Tsuyu fukaki Asama no nora ni okaya karu shizu no tamoto mo kaku wa nureji o - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

露深き浅間の野らに小萱刈る
賤の袂もかくは濡れじを

Roma-ji: Tsuyu fukaki Asama no nora ni okaya karu shizu no tamoto mo kaku wa nureji o
English Translation: In the dew-deep fields
of Asama, the humble folk
who cut reeds—even
their sleeves would surely not be
soaked through so much as mine
Meaning: Even the sleeves of the humble folk who cut reeds in the dew-drenched fields of Asama would surely not be soaked as mine are.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 859

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. Even the sleeves of humble folk who cut reeds in the dew-drenched fields of Asama, he says, would not be soaked like this. By comparison with the sleeves of those who cut grass in the fields covered in dew, he conveys how drenched his own sleeves are with the tears of love. The wordplay contrasting depth and shallowness in "tsuyu fukaki," "deep in dew," and "Asama," "shallow," is also effective.
The author, "Fujiwara no Kiyosuke Ason," was the son of Fujiwara no Akisuke, Master of the Western Capital. He carried on the poetics of the Rokujō Fujiwara house and wrote treatises on poetry such as Fukuro Zōshi and Ōgishō. A poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The love poems from the Kyūan Hyakushu presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku continue from this poem through 860 and form a sequence. Poem 893 in this book also sings of a sleeve wet with love's tears by comparison with the wet sleeves of the fisherfolk, and the two share the same conceit.

First line, "tsuyu fukaki": "heavy with dew." It contrasts depth with the shallowness of "asa" in "Asama" in the second line.
Second line, "Asama no nora ni": "Asama" is a place in Shinano, and "nora" means fields.
Third line, "okaya karu": "cutting reeds," the work of the "shizu" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "shizu no tamoto mo": "shizu" is a person of low station, and "mo" adds "even their sleeves."
Fifth line, "kaku wa nureji o": "kaku" means "like this," that is, like his own sleeves. "Ji" is an auxiliary of negative conjecture and "o" an adversative particle. Breaking off with "would not be soaked like this," it hints at the abundance of love's tears.
Author: Fujiwara no Kiyosuke
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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