Azumaya no okaya no noki no shinobugusa shinobi mo aezu shigeru omoi ni - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

東屋の小萱の軒の忍草
忍びもあへず茂る思ひに

Roma-ji: Azumaya no okaya no noki no shinobugusa shinobi mo aezu shigeru omoi ni
English Translation: On the rustic hut,
on its eaves thatched with reeds,
the shinobu fern—
no longer can I keep it hid,
this love grown thick as the grass
Meaning: Like the shinobu fern on the eaves of the rustic hut thatched with reeds, I can no longer keep it hidden, this love that grows thick as the grass.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 856

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed as a love poem when presenting hundred-poem sequences to Retired Emperor Sutoku"
Like the preceding poem, it is a love poem from the Kyūan Hyakushu. Like the shinobu fern on the reed-thatched eaves of the rustic hut, he says, I can no longer endure in secret, because of a love that grows thick. The upper three lines form a preface that, from the name of the "shinobu" fern growing on the eaves, leads to "shinobi," "to endure in secret," in the fourth line, overlaying the grass growing thick on the eaves with love swelling beyond restraint. It expresses a heart whose secret love has deepened to the point that it can no longer be hidden.
The author, "Former Consultant Chikataka," was Fujiwara no Chikataka. The son of Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Tamefusa, he rose to Consultant.
The love poems from the Kyūan Hyakushu presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku continue from this poem through 860 and form a sequence.

First line, "azumaya no": "azumaya" is a simple house with roofs sloping down on all four sides.
Second line, "okaya no noki no": "okaya" is reed grass, showing eaves thatched with reeds.
Third line, "shinobugusa": a kind of fern that grows on eaves and the like. These three lines form a preface leading by sound to "shinobi" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "shinobi mo aezu": "aezu" means "unable to do fully," "unable even to endure in secret." Repeating the word from "shinobugusa" in the third line, it turns from the name of the grass to the heart of a love kept hidden from others.
Fifth line, "shigeru omoi ni": "shigeru" overlays the fern growing thick and love swelling. "Ni" marks cause, "because of a love that grows."
Author: Fujiwara no Chikataka
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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