Kashima naru Tsukuma no kami no tsukuzuku to waga mi hitotsu ni koi o tsumitsuru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

かしまなる筑摩の神のつくづくと
我が身ひとつに恋を積みつる

Roma-ji: Kashima naru Tsukuma no kami no tsukuzuku to waga mi hitotsu ni koi o tsumitsuru
English Translation: Like the god of Tsukuma
who dwells there in Kashima,
deeply, earnestly,
upon this one self of mine
I have heaped up all my love.
Meaning: As the name of the god of Tsukuma in Kashima suggests, deeply and earnestly I have heaped up all my love upon this one self alone.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 999

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that, as the name of the god of Tsukuma suggests, I have heaped love upon my one self alone, deeply and thoroughly. It sings of a quiet lament at having piled up, alone in oneself, a love that could be shared with no one.
The god of Tsukuma is the deity of the Tsukuma Shrine in Ōmi Province, and the tradition that at its festival women wore as many pots as the men they had been with is sung of in the Tales of Ise. It resonates with the final line's "heaping up" of love.
This is the closing poem of the book. Where the opening poem, 925, begins by spreading its feeling over the whole world, wishing tears would make "yo wa mina umi," the whole world a sea, the close ends by heaping feeling upon one self alone, "waga mi hitotsu ni koi o tsumitsuru." The two poems, voicing grief on the scales of the world and of the self, answer each other at the book's beginning and end.

First line, "Kashima naru," means "in Kashima."
Second line, "Tsukuma no kami no," means "of the god of Tsukuma." The first two lines form an introductory phrase that, repeating the sound of "Tsukuma," leads to "tsukuzuku" in the third line. It answers the second line of 997 in this book, "nasu koso kami no," as a poem of the gods.
Third line, "tsukuzuku to," means "deeply, earnestly."
Fourth line, "waga mi hitotsu ni," means "upon my one self alone." It shares the same words with the second line of 953 in this book, "waga mi hitotsu no," and also echoes the final line of 980, "kokoro hitotsu ni." It answers "yo wa mina umi" in the opening poem, 925, through the difference in scale between the world and the self.
Final line, "koi o tsumitsuru," means "I have heaped up love," with "tsuru" the attributive of the perfective "tsu," ending with lingering feeling.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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