Waga koi wa miyama no matsu ni hau kuzu no shigeki o hito no towazu zo arikeru

わが恋はみ山の松に這ふ葛の
しげきを人の問はずぞありける

Roma-ji: Waga koi wa miyama no matsu ni hau kuzu no shigeki o hito no towazu zo arikeru
English Translation: This love of mine
is like the vines that cling
to deep-mountain pines—
so thick, and yet my love
has never come to ask.
Meaning: My love is like the arrowroot vines that cling to the pines of the deep mountains, so thick and unceasing, and yet the one I love never comes to ask after me.
Commentary: Love Poems 410

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Among poems on love"
The poet likens his unceasing love to arrowroot vines growing thick on the pines of the deep mountains, and laments that though he longs so much, his beloved never comes to ask after him.
According to the notes in the base text, the Teika text reads line 3 as hau tsuta no, "the ivy that clings." Here the base text is followed. Kamo no Mabuchi marked this poem with a circle.

Line 1, waga koi wa, "this love of mine," is a standard opening for a love poem.
Line 2 means "on the pines of the deep mountains."
Line 3 means "like the creeping arrowroot," and the first three lines form a preface leading to shigeki.
Line 4: shigeki joins the thickness of the vines with the constancy of longing, the same word as in the preceding poem.
Line 5: zo binds the attributive keru, the exclamatory keri expressing the sorrow of realizing that the beloved never comes to ask.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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