Natsu fukami Tamae ni shigeru ashi no ha no soyogu ya fune no kayou naruran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

夏深み玉江に茂る葦の葉の
そよぐや船の通ふなるらん

Roma-ji: Natsu fukami Tamae ni shigeru ashi no ha no soyogu ya fune no kayou naruran
English Translation: Summer being deep,
the reeds that grow so thick
at Tamae rustle:
is it that a boat is passing
through them where I cannot see?
Meaning: Summer has deepened, and the reeds have grown thick at Tamae; their leaves rustle, perhaps because a boat is passing through where I cannot see.
Commentary: Book Three Summer Poems 204

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Water Plants Hide a Boat'"
Composed on the topic "Water Plants Hide a Boat." Summer has deepened and the reeds at Tamae have grown so tall that they hide the boats, but the rustling of their leaves, the poet supposes, means a boat is passing beyond them. Inferring an unseen boat from the rustle of reeds, the poem makes fine use of the topic.
The author, "Hosshōji Lay-Priest Former Chancellor," is Fujiwara no Tadamichi, son of Regent Fujiwara no Tadazane, who served successively as Regent, Chief Advisor and Chancellor, and after taking holy orders was called Lord Hosshōji. He was an important patron of poetry, and a poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, "natsu fukami": the suffix "mi" gives a cause: "since summer has deepened."
Second line, "Tamae ni shigeru": Tamae is a poetic place in Settsu or Echizen, famous for reeds.
Third line, "ashi no ha no": the subject of "soyogu" in the fourth line. After the caltrop leaves of the preceding poem, 203, it again depicts waterside plants.
Fourth line, "soyogu ya fune no": "soyogu" means leaves rustling as wind or something brushes them, and the interrogative "ya" links with "ran" in the last line.
Fifth line, "kayou naruran": "naru" is the attributive of the copula "nari" and "ran," the attributive of present conjecture, closes with "ya": "it must be that a boat is passing." The hidden boat is inferred from the sound of rustling.
Author: Fujiwara no Tadamichi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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