Omou yori itsushika nururu tamoto kana namida zo koi no shirube narikeru - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ふよりいつしか濡るるたもとかな
涙ぞ恋のしるべなりける

Roma-ji: Omou yori itsushika nururu tamoto kana namida zo koi no shirube narikeru
English Translation: As soon as I love,
how swiftly my sleeves are wet
with the falling drops:
it is tears, I now discover,
that lead the way in love
Meaning: No sooner do I begin to love than my sleeves are already wet. It is tears, I now see, that are the guides of love.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 644

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'The Beginning of Love' at a poetry contest held by Provisional Middle Counselor Toshitada while he was a Middle Captain"
Composed on the topic "The beginning of love" at a poetry contest held by Fujiwara no Toshitada when he was still a Middle Captain. As soon as I love, she says, my sleeves are already wet; it is tears that are the guides of love. The conceit is that one learns love has begun from the tears that flow out even before the heart knows it.
The author, "Chikuzen of the Later Nijō Chancellor's household," was a lady-in-waiting in the household of Chancellor Fujiwara no Moromichi. Little is known of her life.
Where 642 of this book asked the heart to be a "guide," this poem makes tears the "guide" of love. It shares its third line with "iwanu ni nururu tamoto kana" in 662, as well as the idea of knowing love through tears. Poem 702 also says that the sleeves are wet as soon as one enters into love.

First line, "omou yori": "yori" means "as soon as," "no sooner do I love." It is the same use as "iru yori" in the fourth line of 702.
Second line, "itsushika nururu": "itsushika" means "already," "already wet though I have only just begun to love."
Third line, "tamoto kana": "tamoto" is the sleeve, and "kana" an exclamatory final particle. The poem pauses here. It is the same as the third line of 662.
Fourth line, "namida zo koi no": the emphatic binding particle "zo" closes with the attributive "keru" in the last line.
Fifth line, "shirube narikeru": "shirube" is a guide, and "keru," the attributive of "keri" expressing realization, closes the "zo" of the fourth line. It echoes "michishirube seyo" in the last line of 642.
Author: Chikuzen
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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