Soko e u no kawanami wakete irinuru ka matsu hodo sugite miezu mo aru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

そこへうのかは浪分けて入りぬるか
待つほど過ぎて見えずもあるかな

Roma-ji: Soko e u no kawanami wakete irinuru ka matsu hodo sugite miezu mo aru kana
English Translation: Down into the depths,
has the cormorant gone in,
parting river waves?
the time I waited has passed
and still it is not in sight.
Meaning: Has the cormorant parted the river waves and gone down into the depths? The time I have waited has passed, and still it is nowhere to be seen.
Commentary: Book Seven Names of Things 425

Headnote: "Hyō no kawa (leopard skin)"
The poet wonders whether the cormorant has parted the river waves and gone down to the bottom, for though the time of waiting has passed it is nowhere to be seen. Singing of waiting for a cormorant that has dived and not come up, the poem hides the name "hyō no kawa" given in the headnote in the run of sounds "he u no kawa" from the first to the second 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, "soko e u no," means "the cormorant into the depths." Its final "he u no" with "kawa" at the start of the second line hides the name "hyō no kawa."
Second line, "kawanami wakete," means "parting the river waves."
Third line, "irinuru ka," means "has it gone in," and the poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "matsu hodo sugite," means "though the time of waiting has passed."
Final line, "miezu mo aru kana," means "it is not to be seen," with "kana" exclamatory. The next poem, 426, also hides the name of an animal skin, so two poems on skins stand together.
Author: Fujiwara no Sukemi
Source: Shui Wakashu
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