Morume nomi amata miyureba mikasayama shirushiru ikaga sashite yukubeki - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

もるめのみあまた見ゆればみかさ山
知る知るいかがさしてゆくべき

Roma-ji: Morume nomi amata miyureba mikasayama shirushiru ikaga sashite yukubeki
English Translation: So many watchers
leak their eyes on every side—
Mount Mikasa's hat,
knowing this, how could I hold it
and head straight on to you
Meaning: There are so many watching eyes about that, knowing it, how could I hold up the umbrella of Mount Mikasa and set out straight for you?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems VI 1030

Headnote: "Reply."
The reply asks how, with so many watching eyes about, he could knowingly hold up the umbrella and head toward her. Taking up "sashite," Mount Mikasa and the leaking from the preceding poem, he excuses himself: it was not that rain leaked but that watchers were on guard, so he could not go.
According to the headnote, it is the man's reply to the preceding poem, 1029. He turns the rain's "mori," leaking, into "morume," watching eyes, laying the blame for his absence on the eyes of others. In 1018 in this book, too, people's eyes are the pretext for not meeting.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Morume nomi," means "only watching eyes," with "moru" joining keeping watch and the leaking rain of the preceding poem.
The second line, "amata miyureba," means "since many are seen."
The third line, "mikasayama," is Mount Mikasa, taking up the third line of the preceding poem, with "mikasa" again meaning an umbrella.
The fourth line, "shirushiru ikaga," means "knowing this, how," with "ikaga" rhetorical and answered by "beki" in the last line. "Shirushiru" is also used in the second line of 1043 in this book.
The last line, "sashite yukubeki," means "could I go holding it up," taking up "sashite" in the first line of the preceding poem and joining holding up an umbrella with heading toward someone.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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