Yamagawa ni ue o fusete mori mo aezu toshi no yatose o waga nusumaishi

山川に筌を伏せて守りもあへず
年の八年を我がぬすまひし

Roma-ji: Yamagawa ni ue o fusete mori mo aezu toshi no yatose o waga nusumaishi
English Translation: In the mountain stream
the fish trap lies,
its keeper could not guard it,
and for eight years long, the years,
I have kept on stealing
Meaning: In the mountain stream a fish trap was laid, but its keeper could not guard it well, and for eight long years I have kept on stealing from it in secret.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2832

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Metaphorical Poems"
As the keeper of a fish trap set in a mountain stream cannot watch it every moment, so the speaker has slipped past watchful parents and gone secretly to the beloved for eight long years. Stealing fish from the trap stands for a hidden love with a closely guarded daughter, and the poem confesses a long secret affair in a playful tone.
By the left note "the one poem above expresses feelings through fish," this poem uses fish as its figure. It continues the waterside material of the preceding boat poem, but instead of a love that waits, it sings of a love carried on behind others' backs.
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, "yamagawa ni": "in the mountain stream," read with a voiced "ga" and meaning a river flowing through the mountains.
Second line, "ue o fusete": "laying a fish trap." The trap, woven of bamboo to catch fish, stands for the parents' eyes guarding their daughter. The line has six syllables, one short.
Third line, "mori mo aezu": "unable to keep watch fully." "Aezu" means not managing to do something completely, showing that the speaker slipped through a gap in the keeper's watch.
Fourth line, "toshi no yatose o": "for eight years." "Eight" signifies a great many, showing that the hidden love went on for a long time.
Fifth line, "waga nusumaishi": "I have kept on stealing." "Nusumau" adds the continuative "fu" to "nusumu," and "shi," the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki," ends the poem on that form with a note of feeling.
Source: Manyoshu
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