広瀬川袖漬くばかり浅けれど
我は深めて思ひ初めてき
我は深めて思ひ初めてき
- Roma-ji
-
Hirosegawa sode tsuku bakari asakeredo ware wa fukamete omoisometeki
- English Translation
-
The Hirose River
is shallow, just enough
to wet one's sleeve,
yet I have, so deeply,
begun to love you.
- Meaning
- The Hirose River is shallow, only deep enough to wet a sleeve, but I have begun to love you deeply.
- Commentary
-
Love Poems 461
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the theme of love at famous places"
The Hirose River in Yamato is shallow enough only to wet a sleeve, yet the poet has begun to love deeply. The shallowness of the river and the depth of feeling are set against each other.
Line 1 names the Hirose River, a poetic place in Yamato.
Line 2 means "just enough to soak a sleeve," showing its shallowness.
Line 3 means "though it is shallow," adversative.
Line 4 means "I, deepening," pairing the shallow river with a deep heart.
Line 5 means "I have begun to love," teki marking completion and past.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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Ōsaka no sekiya mo izura Yamashiro no Otowa no taki no oto ni kikitsutsu
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Kamiyama no yamashitamizu no wakikaeri iwade mono omou ware zo kanashiki