A Hundred Verses from Old Japan (The Hyakunin-isshu), tr. by William N. Porter, [1909], at sacred-texts.com
A Hundred Verses from Old Japan (The Hyakunin-isshu), tr. by William N. Porter, [1909], at sacred-texts.com
OH! rippling River Izumi,
That flows through Mika plain,
Why should the maid I saw but now
And soon shall see again
Torment my love-sick brain?
Kanesuke was a member of the Fujiwara family; he died in the year 933. The River Izumi is in the Province of Yamashiro.
The word-plays in this verse are—Izumi, in the third line, which is imitated in the next line, and Mika, which is also repeated in the third line. The first three lines of this verse, about the river flowing through the plain, form a 'preface', and appear to be inserted merely because itsu miki (when I have seen her) sounds like Izumi.
