Naniwame no sukumo taku hi no shitakogare ue wa tsurenaki waga mi narikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

難波女のすくも焚く火の下焦がれ
上はつれなき我が身なりけり

Roma-ji: Naniwame no sukumo taku hi no shitakogare ue wa tsurenaki waga mi narikeri
English Translation: Like the reed-chaff fire
that the Naniwa women burn,
smoldering below,
I am one who, on the surface,
shows nothing of my burning
Meaning: Like the fire of dry reeds that the women of Naniwa burn, which smolders underneath without a flame, I burn with love in secret while outwardly I seem quite unmoved.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 665

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
Like the fire of reed chaff burned by the women of Naniwa, he says, I smolder with love beneath, while on the surface I seem unmoved. Because such a fire smolders on below without raising a flame, it shows the gap between a love that burns on secretly deep in the heart and a manner that reveals nothing outwardly.
The author, "Fujiwara no Kiyosuke Ason," was the son of Fujiwara no Akisuke, Master of the Capital Office of the Left. He carried on the poetic learning of the Rokujō Fujiwara house and wrote poetic treatises such as the Fukuro Zōshi and the Ōgishō. He has a poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Like "Naniwae no mo ni uzumoruru" in 641 at the head of this book, it entrusts a hidden love to the things of Naniwa. The final poem of the book, 703, also gives love to fire and smoke with "koi no keburi," "the smoke of love."

First line, "Naniwame no": "Naniwame" are women who live on the shore of Naniwa in Settsu. Like "Naniwae no" in the first line of 641 at the head of the book, it sings of the land of Naniwa.
Second line, "sukumo taku hi no": "sukumo" is dried reeds or seaweed waste, whose fire smolders without raising a flame. The first two lines form a preface leading to "shitakogare" in the third line. It shares the giving of love to fire with "koi no keburi o" in the fourth line of 703.
Third line, "shitakogare": overlays a fire smoldering and scorching underneath and secretly burning with love within.
Fourth line, "ue wa tsurenaki": "ue" is the surface, set against "shita," "below," in the third line. "Tsurenashi" means calm and seemingly unmoved.
Fifth line, "waga mi narikeri": "keri" expresses realization, "such am I."
Author: Fujiwara no Kiyosuke
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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