Kamitsuke no ikaho no numa ni uekonagi kaku koimu to ya tane motomekemu

上つ毛野伊香保の沼に植ゑ小水葱
かく恋ひむとや種求めけむ

Roma-ji: Kamitsuke no ikaho no numa ni uekonagi kaku koimu to ya tane motomekemu
English Translation: In Kamitsuke,
in the marsh of Ikaho
water leeks are set:
did I seek those seeds, I wonder,
knowing I would love like this?
Meaning: Water leeks planted in Ikaho's marsh in Kamitsuke—did I seek out their seeds knowing I would come to love like this?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3415

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
Like the water leeks planted in Ikaho's marsh, the love the singer sought of her own accord has become more painful than she ever imagined. Seeking seeds is laid over the beginning of love, and the heart looks back on how it all started.
It is one of the Kōzuke poems. Konagi is a waterside plant that was eaten. "The flowers of konagi in the seedbed" also appear in 3576 of this book.
The poet is unknown. The Azuma uta are thought to have been sung among the people of the eastern provinces, and they are marked by plain, open-hearted expression mixed with local dialect.

First line, "kamitsuke no": The old name of Kōzuke, opening as a Kōzuke poem.
Second line, "ikaho no numa ni": The marsh of Ikaho, as the Ikaho poems continue.
Third line, "uekonagi": "Konagi" is a waterside plant; the poem pauses on this noun.
Fourth line, "kaku koimu to ya": "Ya" is an interrogative binding particle, answered by "kemu."
Final line, "tane motomekemu": "Kemu" is past conjecture: did I seek the seeds? The poem ends looking back.
Source: Manyoshu
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