Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 14

Michinoku no
shinobu mojizuri
tare yue ni
midare someishi
ware naranaku ni

?????
???????
???
??????
??????

That my love has become confused
like the tangle-patterned prints
of Shinobu from the far north,
is not my fault,
but only because of you!

Minamoto no Toru (822-895)
[Mojizuri Stone in the Mojizuri Kannon temple, Fukushima]
The poet complains that it is not his fault that he has fallen into a forbidden love, but the "fault" of the lady in question who is just too attractive. In the Heian-period, a forbidden or secret love was love for the wife of another man, or for a lady of a much higher rank than one's own.

"Michinoku," the area mentioned in the poem, is the eastern part of the Tohoku region; "Shinobu" is an actual place name for a locality which now lies in the outskirts of Fukushima city.
"Shinobu-mojizuri" refers to an ancient dyeing process in which moss fern (shinobu) was rubbed into cloth, creating a "confused" pattern; shinobu is also a pivot word with as second meaning "to love secretly." The whole phrase "Michinoku no / shinobu mojizuri" is a preface (jo) to the word midare, disordered.

"The tangle-patterned prints of Shinobu from the far north" are symbolic for a heart moved by love - just as the prints were pressed on textiles, so the heart of the poet has been imprinted with feelings of love; and just as the prints are tangle-patterned, so his h...