Komorizu no sawatatsumi naru iwane yu mo tōshite zo omou kimi ni awamaku wa

隠り津の沢たつみなる岩根ゆも
通してぞ思ふ君に逢はまくは

Roma-ji: Komorizu no sawatatsumi naru iwane yu mo tōshite zo omou kimi ni awamaku wa
English Translation: In a hidden marsh,
in the water pooling there,
through the rooted rock
I would pierce, so strong my longing
for the chance to meet with you
Meaning: So strong is my longing to meet you that it would pierce even the rock rooted in the still water of a hidden marsh.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2794

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
The woman says she longs to meet her lover with a feeling strong enough to pierce even the rocks lying in the water of a hidden marsh. Linking her single-hearted longing to the water of a marsh out of sight, she expresses a love that is secret yet unshakable.
Following the sequence on the cord of jewels, this poem expresses longing through water and rock. The word "komorizu" carries the feeling of a love hidden from others' eyes, and whereas the preceding poems sang of jewels pierced by a cord, this one sings of a longing that pierces rock, so that the motif of piercing runs between them. The second line is difficult, and its interpretation is disputed.
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, "komorizu no": "of the hidden waters," a marsh or pond out of others' sight, overlaid with the feeling of a love kept secret.
Second line, "sawatatsumi naru": understood as "in the pooled water of the marsh," though the meaning of the word is disputed. "Naru" is the attributive form of "nari," expressing location.
Third line, "iwane yu mo": "even through the rooted rock." "Iwane" is a great rock as if rooted in the earth, "yu" is a particle of passage, and "mo" stresses "even the rock."
Fourth line, "tōshite zo omou": "I long with a force that pierces through." The particle "zo" is answered by "omou" in its attributive form in a kakari-musubi construction, and a pause falls here.
Fifth line, "kimi ni awamaku wa": "to meet with you." "Awamaku" is the nominalized form of "awamu"; inverted with the fourth line, it reveals at the very end where the longing is directed.
Source: Manyoshu
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