Hito shirenu ko no ha no shita no umoremizu omou kokoro o kakinagasabaya - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

人知れぬ木の葉の下の埋もれ水
思ふ心をかき流さばや

Roma-ji: Hito shirenu ko no ha no shita no umoremizu omou kokoro o kakinagasabaya
English Translation: Like the buried stream
that flows unknown to anyone
beneath the fallen leaves,
how I long to sweep away,
write out, the love I hold within
Meaning: Like the buried stream that runs unseen beneath the fallen leaves, I long to set flowing the love hidden in my heart, writing it out in a letter to her.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 661

Headnote: "Composed as a love poem when he composed a hundred-poem sequence"
Composed as a love poem for a hundred-poem sequence. Like the buried water under the leaves that no one knows of, he says, I long to set my secret love flowing. The first three lines picture water running unseen, and through the double sense of "kakinagasu," "to sweep water along" and "to write out," he voices a wish to set down the love hidden in his heart in a letter, as one would clear the fallen leaves and let the water run.
The author, "the Minister of the Right," is Fujiwara no Sanesada. The son of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Kinyoshi, he was Minister of the Right when this anthology was compiled, later rose to Minister of the Left, and was called the Later Tokudaiji Minister of the Left. He has a poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Like "tani no umoregi" in 651 of this book, it entrusts a secret love to something buried. It also stands with "yama no shitamizu" in 654 and "tani no shitamizu" in 667 among poems that give a hidden love to unseen water.

First line, "hito shirenu": "unknown to anyone." Poem 667 opens with the same line.
Second line, "ko no ha no shita no": "running beneath the fallen leaves."
Third line, "umoremizu": water that flows unseen, covered by leaves, a figure for secret love. The first three lines form a preface leading to the rest. It is akin to "tani no umoregi" in the last line of 651.
Fourth line, "omou kokoro o": "the heart that loves."
Fifth line, "kakinagasabaya": "kakinagasa" combines sweeping water along and writing something out in a letter. "Baya" is a final particle of one's own wish, "how I long to."
Author: Fujiwara no Sanesada
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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