The bamboo-grass field of Ono, sparse with cogon grass — though I try to hide my feelings, I cannot hold them back; why do I long for you so?
Sangi Hitoshi — Minamoto no Hitoshi — was a court noble of the mid-Heian period, a great-grandson of Emperor Saga. He rose to the rank of sangi, imperial adviser, but few of his poems survive. This poem is in the Gosen Wakashū, Love I. Its upper verse is taken whole from an anonymous poem in the Kokin Wakashū — "asajiu no ono no shinohara shinobu tomo hito shirurame ya iu hito nashi ni" — a technique called honkadori, building a new poem on an older one. "Asajiu no ono no shinohara" is a jo-kotoba, an introductory phrase: the sound "shino" of the bamboo grass leads into "shinobu", to hide. It describes a field overgrown with low cogon grass and slender bamboo.
"Shinoburedo" means though I hold it back and hide it. "Amarite" means unable to hold it back, overflowing. The older poem said, "since no one is telling, how could anyone know?" — a love that could be kept hidden to the end. This poem begins from the very same upper verse and is bewildered instead: "I am hiding it, so why does my longing overflow like this?" It is a feeling that even he cannot stop. The "shino" of the bamboo field calls up "shinobu", and that hiding, unable to hold, "overflows". As the words link one to the next, the feeling spills out.
What drew us to this poem is that a love which, in the older poem, could be kept hidden begins with the very same words — and this time cannot be hidden, and overflows. We think the poet a thousand years ago also believed he was good at acting as if nothing were wrong, and in the end it spilled over anyway. In the lyrics we moved the original "bamboo-grass field" to the tall bamboo grass on a riverbank today. On the way home, where the grass rustles, the feeling is hidden; with every word typed and erased without being sent, it overflows; and at last the wind bends the grass flat, and there is nowhere left to hide. Repeating "shinoburedo" like a password, we sang a love too big to hide as the heat of youth, breaking into a run.
浅茅生の（後撰集/参議等・百人一首39番）Garu JP
河川敷の 帰り道 背の高い 篠竹が鳴る
自転車 押して 並んで歩く いつもの 二人
「明日 晴れるかな」なんて どうでもいい 話をして
本当に 言いたいことだけ 喉の奥で 止めてる
平気な 顔なら 得意なはずだった
なのに 君が 笑うたび 胸が 騒ぎだす
浅茅生の 小野の篠原 しのぶれど
あまりてなどか 人の恋しき
隠しても 隠しても
あふれて 止まらない
しのぶれど しのぶれど
誰にも 言えないまま
授業で 習った 千年前の 恋の歌
篠の原に 隠した はずの 想いが こぼれてしまう
あの時は 古くさいって 笑ってたけど
今なら わかるよ その気持ち
メッセージ 打っては消して 打っては消して
送信ボタンの 上で 指が 止まる
浅茅生の 小野の篠原 しのぶれど
あまりてなどか 人の恋しき
隠しても 隠しても
消した 文字の 数だけ
しのぶれど しのぶれど
あふれていく
風が 篠を 倒して 道ができる
隠れる 場所は もう どこにもない
浅茅生の 小野の篠原 しのぶれど
あまりてなどか 人の恋しき
浅茅生の 小野の篠原 しのぶれど
あまりてなどか 人の恋しき
隠せない 隠さない
夕焼けの 河川敷で
しのぶれど しのぶれど
君が 好きだ
しのぶれど あまりてなどか
Asajiu no (Gosen-shu / Sangi Hitoshi, Hyakunin Isshu No. 39) Garu JP
The way home along the riverbank, the tall bamboo grass rustling
Pushing our bikes, walking side by side, the two of us as always
"Think it'll be sunny tomorrow?" we talk about nothing at all
and the one thing I really want to say stays stuck in my throat
I thought I was good at keeping a straight face
but every time you smile, my heart starts to race
"Like the bamboo grass of Ono's low-reed field, I try to hide it,
so why does my longing for you overflow?"
Hide it, hide it all I want
it keeps spilling over
I hide it, I hide it
and still I can't tell anyone
A thousand-year-old love poem we learned in class
a feeling hidden in a field of bamboo grass, spilling out anyway
Back then I laughed and called it old-fashioned
but now I understand exactly how it felt
Typing a message and deleting it, typing and deleting it
my finger stops right above the send button
"Like the bamboo grass of Ono's low-reed field, I try to hide it,
so why does my longing for you overflow?"
Hide it, hide it all I want
as many letters as I deleted
I hide it, I hide it
it overflows
The wind bends the bamboo grass flat and a path appears
there's nowhere left to hide
"Like the bamboo grass of Ono's low-reed field, I try to hide it,
so why does my longing for you overflow?"
"Like the bamboo grass of Ono's low-reed field, I try to hide it,
so why does my longing for you overflow?"
I can't hide it, I won't hide it
here on the riverbank at sunset
I hid it, I hid it
I love you
I hide it, and yet it overflows