山繁み木の下隠れ行く水の
音聞きしより我や忘るる
音聞きしより我や忘るる
- Roma-ji
-
Yama shigemi ko no shitagakure yuku mizu no oto kikishi yori ware ya wasururu
- English Translation
-
The mountain so thick
that beneath the trees it hides,
the flowing water—
ever since I heard its sound,
how could I forget?
- Meaning
- Like the water flowing hidden beneath the trees of the thickly wooded mountain, I have heard of you only by report; and ever since I heard, how could I forget?
- Commentary
-
Love Poems 411
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Among poems on love"
The sound of mountain water flowing hidden under the trees stands for a person known only by report; since hearing it, the poet asks, how could he forget? The stream unseen and only heard carries his longing for someone he has not yet met.
Line 1 means "since the mountain is thick with trees," taking up shigeki from the preceding poem.
Line 2 means "hidden beneath the trees."
Line 3 means "the flowing water," and the first three lines form a preface leading to "sound."
Line 4 overlays the sound of water and the report of a person: "since I heard."
Line 5: ya is a rhetorical binding particle concluded by the attributive wasururu, "would I forget? never."
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
- Prev Poem
-
Waga koi wa miyama no matsu ni hau kuzu no shigeki o hito no towazu zo arikeru
- Next Poem
-
Natsu fukaki mori no utsusemi onore nomi munashiki koi ni mi o kudakuramu