Kohatagawa ko wa ta ga iishi koto no ha zo nakina susugamu takitsuse mo nashi - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

木幡川こはたが言ひし言の葉ぞ
なき名すすがむ滝つ瀬もなし

Roma-ji: Kohatagawa ko wa ta ga iishi koto no ha zo nakina susugamu takitsuse mo nashi
English Translation: Kohata River:
who was it, then, that first spoke
these words of rumor?
There is no rushing current
to rinse the groundless name away.
Meaning: Like the Kohata River, whose words, I wonder, were these? There are no rapids to rinse away this groundless name.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 706

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem asks who could have started this rumor and laments that there are no rapids to wash away the groundless name. Echoing "ko wa ta ga," "whose is this," in the place name Kohata, it carries on with "susugu" and "takitsuse," words linked to the river, expressing grief that there is no way to cleanse the stain. It closes the sequence on groundless rumor that has run from the opening of the book.

First line, "Kohatagawa," is the river flowing through Kohata in Yamashiro, leading into "ko wa ta ga" of the same sound in the second line.
Second line, "ko wa ta ga iishi," means "who was it that said this," repeating the sounds of "Kohata" in the first line.
Third line, "koto no ha zo," means "are these words," and the poem breaks after this third line.
Fourth line, "nakina susugamu," means "to rinse away the groundless name," with "susugu" an associated word for the river. It is the word that runs through the sequence on groundless rumor since the opening poem, 698.
Final line, "takitsuse mo nashi," means "there are no rapids," saying there is no way to wash the stain away.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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