Wakareji wa kumoi no yoso ni narinu tomo sonata no kaze no tayori sugusu na

English Translation

Though the road of parting
sets you far beyond the clouds,
in another world,
let no wind out of that quarter
pass without a word from you.

Meaning

Though the road of parting leaves you far beyond the clouds, let no wind from your quarter pass without bringing word from you.

Commentary

Book Nine Parting Poems 894

Headnote: "Sent to someone going away to a distant province."
This is the third poem of the sequence of gifts to those leaving the capital. Though they will be parted beyond the clouds, the poet asks that word not cease. According to the headnote, it was sent to someone going down to a distant province.
The author was a son of Imperial Adviser Minamoto no Motohira, rose to Master of the Treasury, and was known as a poet.
The scene is the sending off of someone bound for a distant province, and the place is the capital.
The direct occasion was the poem sent to someone going down to a distant province.

The first line, "wakareji wa," means "the road of parting." It is the same opening as 872 and 874, making it the third use of the word in this book.
The second line, "kumoi no yoso ni," means "far off beyond the clouds." "Kumoi," used also in 877, measures great distance in words drawn from the sky.
The third line, "narinu tomo," means "even if it becomes so," the perfective "nu" with "tomo" forming a concessive supposition.
The fourth line, "sonata no kaze no," means "the wind from your quarter." The sky that divides them is recast as a road that carries word.
The last line, "tayori sugusu na," means "do not let the chance of word pass by," closing with the prohibitive "na." It shares the conceit of 859, which entrusts letters to the wings of geese and asks that they not cease, so poems asking for word after a parting stand near the beginning and near the end of the book.

Author

Minamoto no Yukimune

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other