Toshi o hete moyu chō Fuji no yama yori mo awanu omoi wa ware zo masareru - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

年を経て燃ゆてふ富士の山よりも
逢はぬおもひはわれぞまされる

Roma-ji: Toshi o hete moyu chō Fuji no yama yori mo awanu omoi wa ware zo masareru
English Translation: Far more than Fuji,
the mountain that, they say, burns
on through all the years,
the fire of love unmet
within me burns the stronger
Meaning: Even more than Mount Fuji, which they say has burned through all the years, the fire of a love that cannot meet burns stronger in me.
Commentary: Book Seven Love Poems I 202

Invoking Mount Fuji, which kept sending up smoke, the poet exaggerates that the fire of a love unable to meet burns even more fiercely. The smoke of Fuji had long been a metaphor for love's longing, and the poem draws on that tradition.

The first line, "toshi o hete" (through the years), shows how long the burning has lasted.
The second line, "moyu chō Fuji no," uses the hearsay "chō" for Fuji, said to burn; the mountain is thought to have been smoking at the time.
The third line, "yama yori mo" (more than the mountain), sets Fuji as the point of comparison. It continues the fire and smoke of 187 and 188 at the head of this book, enlarging love's fire to the scale of a mountain.
The fourth line, "awanu omoi wa," plays on "hi" in "omoi" as fire, likening the pain of love unmet to flames.
The final line, "ware zo masareru," forms a kakari-musubi of "zo" with the attributive "ru," declaring firmly that the speaker's fire is greater.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shika Wakashu
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