Amata aranu na o shimo oshimi umoregi no shita yu zo kouru yukue shirazute

あまたあらぬ名をしも惜しみ埋れ木の
下ゆぞ恋ふるゆくへ知らずて

Roma-ji: Amata aranu na o shimo oshimi umoregi no shita yu zo kouru yukue shirazute
English Translation: Not many have I,
but grudging my one good name,
like a buried log
hidden deep below I love,
not knowing where it will lead
Meaning: Grudging the name I have, which is not much to speak of, I love in secret, deep below like a buried log, not knowing where this love will lead.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2723

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
Grudging a name that is not much to speak of, a reputation of no great worth, the speaker keeps on loving deep within, unseen like a buried log. The poem voices a double helplessness: the love must be hidden to protect one's name, and its future cannot be known.
The headnote "Expressing Feelings through Things" names a category of poems that convey love through familiar objects and scenes. This poem uses the "buried log," hidden underground or underwater, to express a love kept from others' eyes. Its last line, "yukue shirazute," like "yukue mo shirazu" in poem 2739 of this book, speaks of the anxiety of a love whose course cannot be seen, and it echoes "nochi wa shiranedo" in the next poem.
The author is unknown. The anonymous poems of Book Eleven gather the love poems of people whose names have not come down to us.

First line, "amata aranu": "not many." It suggests something single or of little worth, and modifies the following "name."
Second line, "na o shimo oshimi": "grudging the name above all." "Shimo" is an emphatic particle, and "oshimi" in its continuative form shows that guarding one's name is the reason the love is concealed.
Third line, "umoregi no": from the image of wood buried out of sight, this is a pillow word attached to "shita," "below." It gives shape to a love hidden from others.
Fourth line, "shita yu zo kouru": "I love secretly, deep within." "Yu" marks the path, and the particle "zo" is answered by the attributive form "kouru" in a kakari-musubi construction, with a break after this line.
Fifth line, "yukue shirazute": "not knowing where it leads." Placed after the break as an inverted afterthought, it leaves the anxiety of an unknowable future hanging in the air.
Source: Manyoshu
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