Poem Meaning and Background
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| A screenshot from the anime "Kimi ni Todoke" |
こひすてふ・わがなはまだき・たちにけり
koisu chō・waga na wa madaki・tachi ni keri
ひとしれずこそ・おもひそめしか
koisu chō・waga na wa madaki・tachi ni keri
ひとしれずこそ・おもひそめしか
hito shirezu koso・omoi some shika
〜壬生忠見（Mibu no Tadami）
Translation
It is true I love,
But the rumor of my love
Had gone far and wide,
When people should not have known
That I had begun to love.
Mibu no Tadami (dates unknown) was a waka poet around the Middle Heian Period and is designated as one of the 36 Immortals of Poetry. His poems are also included in several imperial anthologies. His father, Mibu no Tadamine, author of poem [30] Aria, is himself another one of the 36 Immortals of Poetry.
When he wrote this poem, Tadami was a low ranking official in 摂津国（Settsunokuni) which is now known as Hyogo Prefecture. In order to participate in the Emperor's poetry contest, he traveled a long way to get to the capitol and it was a high honor to have been summoned. It is alleged that after losing the poetry contest to Kanemori, Tadami completely lost his appetite for food and died soon afterward.
Meaning
This particular poem was written for a poetry contest held in the year 960 by Emperor Murasaki. The author Tadami was up against Kanemori, author of poem [40] Shino. Though Kanemori wrote about an imaginary scenario, Tadami's poem is apparently based on his real life experience. The bewilderment of what should have been a hidden crush suddenly becoming the talk of the town is expressed with sincerity in this pure, straightforward poem.
In the first line of the poem, 恋すてふ(koisuchō) means 恋をしているという that people were talking about how he was in love. As a grammar note, てふ in this case is a shortened version of という. The next part, わが名はまだき (waga na wa madaki) means that this rumor spread quickly. 人知れずこそ（hito shirezu koso) means 人知られないように, which essentially means that it was not something others should have known about. In the last line, 思ひそめしか (omoi some shika) means in Japanese 恋し始めたのに (koishi hajimeta noni), which in English can translate to "even though these feelings of love had just started".
Author
When he wrote this poem, Tadami was a low ranking official in 摂津国（Settsunokuni) which is now known as Hyogo Prefecture. In order to participate in the Emperor's poetry contest, he traveled a long way to get to the capitol and it was a high honor to have been summoned. It is alleged that after losing the poetry contest to Kanemori, Tadami completely lost his appetite for food and died soon afterward.
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