Fuchi wa se ni narikawaru chō asukagawa watarimite koso shiru bekarikere - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

淵は瀬になりかはるてふ飛鳥川
渡り見てこそ知るべかりけれ

Roma-ji: Fuchi wa se ni narikawaru chō asukagawa watarimite koso shiru bekarikere
English Translation: The Asuka River,
where deep pools, they say, turn
into shallows—
only by crossing it
can one ever truly know
Meaning: Even the Asuka River, where they say deep pools turn into shallows, can only be known by actually crossing it.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems III 750

Headnote: "When he told a woman of his feelings and she replied that, since people's hearts are never settled, they are hard to rely on."
The poet says that even the Asuka River, where pools turn to shallows, can only be known by crossing it. To a woman who says hearts change and cannot be trusted, he pleads that his heart too can only be known by meeting him.
According to the headnote, he told a woman of his love, and she replied that people's hearts are unsettled and hard to rely on. Drawing on the Kokin Wakashū poem "yo no naka wa nani ka tsune naru asukagawa kinō no fuchi zo kyō wa se ni naru," it sings of the Asuka River, a symbol of change. In this book, poems on the Asuka River continue from this poem through 752.
The poet, Ariwara no Motokata, was a grandson of Ariwara no Narihira and a son of Ariwara no Muneyana. He is known as the author of "toshi no uchi ni haru wa kinikeri," the opening poem of the Kokin Wakashū.

The first line, "Fuchi wa se ni," means "deep pools into shallows."
The second line, "narikawaru chō," means "are said to turn," with "chō" a contraction of "to iu."
The third line, "asukagawa," is a famous poetic river in Yamato whose shifting course made it a symbol of impermanence and of changing hearts. The Asuka River also appears in the next poems, 751 and 752.
The fourth line, "watarimite koso," means "only by crossing," with "koso" an emphatic particle.
The last line, "shiru bekarikere," means "can one know," closing with the perfective "kere" in answer to "koso" in the fourth line, a kakarimusubi pattern.
Author: Ariwara no Motokata
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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