Kokorozashi fukaki toki ni wa soko no mo mo kazukiidenuru mono ni zo arikeru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

志深き時には底のもも
潜き出でぬるものにぞありける

Roma-ji: Kokorozashi fukaki toki ni wa soko no mo mo kazukiidenuru mono ni zo arikeru
English Translation: When one's heart's intent
is deep, then even waterweed
from the very bed
one dives down to and brings up,
so I have come to know.
Meaning: When one's intent is deep, one will dive even to the bottom and bring up the waterweed.
Commentary: Book Seven Names of Things 392

Headnote: "Momo (peach)"
The poet says that when one's intent is deep, one will dive even to the bottom and bring up the waterweed. Overlaying the depth of intent with the depth of water, the poem hides the name of the peach given in the headnote in the run of sounds "soko no mo mo" in the third line. The headnote names the thing hidden in the poem.
The author, written as Sukemi, is Fujiwara no Sukemi. A son of Fujiwara no Hirotsune, he was a mid-Heian poet known as Tōroku. He excelled at poems hiding the names of things, and his personal collection is the Tōrokushū.

First line, "kokorozashi," means "what the heart is set upon."
Second line, "fukaki toki ni wa," means "when it is deep," overlaying the depth of intent with the depth of water.
Third line, "soko no mo mo," means "even the waterweed at the bottom," hiding the name of the peach in "mo mo." After the names of birds and insects in the preceding poems, from here the names of fruits are sung of.
Fourth line, "kazukiidenuru," means "diving and bringing up."
Final line, "mono ni zo arikeru," means "such is the way of it," with "zo" resolved by the attributive "keru."
Author: Fujiwara no Sukemi
Source: Shui Wakashu
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