Koto no ha fukaku narinikeru kana - Izumi Shikibu Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

ことのはふかくなりにけるかな

Roma-ji: Koto no ha fukaku narinikeru kana
English Translation: How deep they have grown,
the leaves of words between us
Meaning: How deep they have grown, the colors of these leaves, and the words we share.
Commentary: 29 Linked Verse on the Spindle-Tree Leaves

About two days after their exchange about the predawn moon, the prince came quietly to Izumi Shikibu, disguised in what looked like a woman's carriage. She had never yet let him see her by daylight and felt shy, but she could not hide in an unseemly way, nor go on being bashful until he spoke, so she slid forward on her knees. The prince spoke of how long it had been since they had met, lay down for a while, and then said, "Make up your mind soon, as I told you. These secret visits always leave me feeling awkward, yet not coming makes me anxious; in this fleeting world, it is painful." When she replied, "I mean to do whatever you say, but I worry that, as the saying goes, one may see and still grieve," he answered, "Well, try it. Like a salt-burner's robe, we shall grow used to each other," and made ready to leave.
The woman is Izumi Shikibu, daughter of Ōe no Masamune and, as the wife of Tachibana no Michisada, Governor of Izumi, mother of Koshikibu no Naishi. The Prince of the Dazaifu is Prince Atsumichi, fourth son of Emperor Reizei, so called because he served as Governor-General of the Dazaifu.
As he was leaving, the prince noticed a lovely spindle tree by the lattice fence in front of the house, its leaves just beginning to turn, and leaning on the railing he spoke this lower verse.
Izumi Shikibu at once answered with the upper verse "Shiratsuyu no hakanaku oku to mishi hodo ni." The prince was delighted to find that she did indeed have a feeling heart. In his informal robe, with an exquisite inner robe showing beneath its hem, the prince looked so splendid that she wondered whether even her eyes had grown fickle.

This is a short linked verse in which the prince spoke the lower half first and Izumi Shikibu added the upper half to complete it. "Koto no ha" means both the leaves of the spindle tree, now turning color, and the "leaves of words," the words exchanged between them.
"How deep they have grown" ends with auxiliaries of completion and exclamation and an exclamatory particle. Overlaying the deepening color of the leaves with the deepening feeling of their words, he entrusts to the scene before him his feelings just after they have spoken of her coming to his residence.
Author: Prince Atsumichi
Source: Izumi Shikibu Nikki
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