Oto ni nomi kikitsuru koi o hito shirezu tsurenaki hito ni narainuru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

音にのみ聞きつる恋を人知れず
つれなき人にならひぬるかな

Roma-ji: Oto ni nomi kikitsuru koi o hito shirezu tsurenaki hito ni narainuru kana
English Translation: Love that I had known
only by the word of others,
now, unknown to all,
from one cold and heartless,
I have come to learn it well.
Meaning: Love, which I had only heard of by report, I have now learned in secret, taught by one who is cold to me.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 641

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that love, which the poet had only heard of by report, he has now come to know firsthand, in secret, through one who is cold to him. It expresses the feeling of tasting love's pain as one's own for the first time, in the form of "narainuru," having learned it. Like "koi o shirinuru" in 638, it sings of first coming to know love, and compared with the "oto" poems of 627 and 628, what is heard of by rumor shifts from the beloved to love itself.

First line, "oto ni nomi," means "only by report," the same phrasing as the fourth line of 628, "oto ni nomi ya wa."
Second line, "kikitsuru koi o," means "love that I had heard of," with "tsuru" the attributive form of the perfective "tsu."
Third line, "hito shirezu," means "unknown to others," the same line as the third line of 634.
Fourth line, "tsurenaki hito ni," means "from one who is cold to me." It shares the cold beloved with the final line of the next poem, 642, "hito wa tsurenashi."
Final line, "narainuru kana," means "I have come to learn it," with "nuru" the attributive form of the perfective "nu" and "kana" exclamatory.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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