Isonokami Furu no kamisugi furinuredo iro ni wa idezu tsuyu mo shigure mo - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

石上布留の神杉ふりぬれど
色には出でず露も時雨も

Roma-ji: Isonokami Furu no kamisugi furinuredo iro ni wa idezu tsuyu mo shigure mo
English Translation: Isonokami,
at Furu the sacred cedar
has grown old, and yet
it has never shown its color,
neither for dew nor for rain
Meaning: The sacred cedar of Furu in Isonokami has grown old, with dew and autumn showers falling on it, yet it has never changed its color; so too my long-hidden love has never shown itself.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 1028

Headnote: "On the topic 'Long-Hidden Love' at a poetry contest of the Bureau of Poetry."
This is the fourth poem of the sequence on hidden love that turns on whether feeling shows in one's color. As the aged sacred cedar of Furu keeps its color through dew and autumn showers, a love hidden for long years never shows itself. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Long-Hidden Love" at a poetry contest held by the Bureau of Poetry.
The author, "Regent and Chancellor," is Kujō Yoshitsune. A son of the Regent Kujō Kanezane, he rose to Regent and Chancellor. He wrote the Kana Preface of the Shin Kokin Wakashū.

The first line, "Isonokami," is a pillow word for Furu. It opens with the same first line as 993, the poem by Hitomaro.
In the second line, "kamisugi" are the cedars growing in the sacred precinct of the Isonokami Shrine, sung of since ancient times.
In the third line, "furi" pivots between growing old and the falling of dew and showers, expressing the "long" of the topic.
The fourth line, "iro ni wa idezu," means "never showing its color," as the evergreen cedar does not change, expressing the "hidden" of the topic. It echoes "ho ni wa idezu," the third line of 993.
The last line, "tsuyu mo shigure mo," means "whether dew or autumn showers fall," inverted with the fourth line. Dew and showers were sung as what dyes leaves, and the cedar that still does not change carries a love long hidden. Where the preceding poem wavered toward showing its color, this one returns to never showing it, and the next poem, by Retired Emperor Go-Toba, also sings of autumn showers.
Author: Kujō Yoshitsune
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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