Yuku mizu no kishi ni nioeru ominaeshi shinobi ni nami ya omoikakuran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

行く水の岸ににほへる女郎花
忍びに浪や思ひかくらん

Roma-ji: Yuku mizu no kishi ni nioeru ominaeshi shinobi ni nami ya omoikakuran
English Translation: Upon the river bank
where the flowing waters run,
the maidenflower glows;
do the waves in secret now
lay their longing over her?
Meaning: Do the waves, splashing over the maidenflowers glowing on the bank of the flowing river, secretly set their hearts on them?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Autumn Poems 1097

Headnote: "At the house of the Sanjō Chancellor, when poets were summoned and made to compose many poems, on the topic "Flowers by the riverbank""
The poet wonders whether the waves splash over the maidenflowers glowing on the bank of the flowing river because they have secretly set their hearts on them. The headnote shows that poets were summoned to the house of the Sanjō Chancellor, Fujiwara no Yoritada, and made to compose many poems, and that this was written on the topic "Flowers by the riverbank." Treating the maidenflower as a woman and the waves as a man in secret love, it renders the scene of the topic in the manner of a love poem.
From here through 1100, poems on the maidenflower follow one another.
The author is Minamoto no Shigeyuki, of the Seiwa Genji line, who served in a series of provincial posts and in his last years went down to Michinoku, where he died. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "yuku mizu no," means "of the flowing water of the river."
Second line, "kishi ni nioeru," means "glowing on the bank," with "niou" meaning to shine with lovely color and "ru" the attributive form of the continuative "ri."
Third line, "ominaeshi," the maidenflower, is one of the seven flowers of autumn and, from its name, was likened to a woman. The next poem, 1098, and 1100 in this book also place "ominaeshi" in the third line, so maidenflower poems stand side by side.
Fourth line, "shinobi ni nami ya," means "do the waves in secret," with "ya" a questioning binding particle.
Final line, "omoikakuran," turns on the pivot word "kaku," joining "kaku," the waves splashing spray, and "kaku," to set one's heart, so that it means "do they set their hearts on her." "Ran," the attributive form of the auxiliary of present conjecture, resolves the "ya" of the fourth line.
Author: Minamoto no Shigeyuki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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