Utomashi ya ko no shitakage no wasuremizu ikura no hito no kage o mitsuramu - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

うとましや木の下陰の忘れ水
いくらの人の影を見つらむ

Roma-ji: Utomashi ya ko no shitakage no wasuremizu ikura no hito no kage o mitsuramu
English Translation: How hateful it is,
under shadows of the trees
the forgotten stream,
how many people's faces
has it come to mirror there
Meaning: How hateful! The forgotten stream in the shade of the trees, how many people's reflections has it seen?
Commentary: Book Eleven Variant Poems 699

How many people's reflections, the poet wonders, has the forgotten stream flowing in the hidden shade of the trees mirrored over the years? How hateful. Likening a lover who has secretly met many others to the forgotten stream, the poem resents that fickle heart.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant order it is placed after 498 in Book Eight. Poem 458 in Book Eight is also a love poem on a forgotten stream lying still among the rocks.

First line, 'utomashi ya', means how hateful, the stem of utomashi with the interjectory ya; the poem breaks after the first line.
Second line, 'ko no shitakage no', means in the shade beneath the trees, a place hidden from sight.
Third line, 'wasuremizu', means the forgotten stream, water flowing unnoticed, a figure for a fickle lover. It is the same word as the third line of 458 in Book Eight.
Fourth line, 'ikura no hito no', means of how many people.
Final line, 'kage o mitsuramu', means has it reflected, the perfective tsu with the present conjectural ramu. The reflections on the water are overlaid with people met in secret.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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