浅茅生の小野の篠原忍ぶれど
あまりてなどか人の恋しき
あまりてなどか人の恋しき
- Roma-ji
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Asajiu no Ono no shinohara shinoburedo amarite nado ka hito no koishiki
- English Translation
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In low reeds and grass
on the bamboo plain of Ono,
though I hide my love,
why is it that it overflows,
and I long for you so
- Meaning
- Like the low bamboo of the reed-grown plain of Ono, I keep my love hidden—yet why does it overflow, and why do I long for you so?
- Commentary
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Book Nine Love Poems I 577
Headnote: "Sent to someone."
The poet says that, like the "shino" of the low bamboo on the reed-grown plain of Ono, he keeps his love hidden, yet asks why it overflows and why he longs for her so. It expresses a love that wells up beyond restraint, in the form of a question put to himself.
It is a famous poem included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. Taking as its source the Kokin Wakashū poem "asajiu no Ono no shinohara shinobu tomo hito shirurame ya iu hito nashi ni," it uses the upper lines almost unchanged.
The poet, called "Minamoto no Hitoshi Ason," is Minamoto no Hitoshi. A great-grandson of Emperor Saga, he rose to Consultant.
The first line, "Asajiu no," means "where low reeds grow."
The second line, "Ono no shinohara," means "the plain of low bamboo at Ono," and the first two lines form a preface that leads through the sound "shino" to "shinobure" in the third line.
The third line, "shinoburedo," means "though I hold it in and hide it," with "do" a concessive particle.
The fourth line, "amarite nado ka," means "overflowing, why," with "ka" an interrogative particle.
The last line, "hito no koishiki," means "do I long for you so?", closing with the attributive "koishiki" in answer to "ka" in the fourth line.
- Author
- Minamoto no Hitoshi
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Kumoi nite hito o koishi to omou kana ware wa ashibe no tazu naranaku ni
- Next Poem
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Ame yamanu noki no tamamizu kazu shirazu koishiki koto no masaru koro kana