Suma no ama no sode ni fukikosu shiokaze no naru to wa suredo te ni mo tamarazu - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

須磨の海人の袖に吹きこす潮風の
なるとはすれど手にもたまらず

Roma-ji: Suma no ama no sode ni fukikosu shiokaze no naru to wa suredo te ni mo tamarazu
English Translation: The salt wind that blows
across the sleeves of fishers
on the shore of Suma
sounds and grows familiar,
yet stays not in the hand.
Meaning: Like the salt wind that blows over the sleeves of the Suma fishers, sounding as it grows familiar, we have grown close, yet you slip through my hands as the wind does and never become mine.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 1117

Headnote: "Composed on 'Love by the Sea.'"
This is the third of three poems on love linked to fishers burning salt. Like the salt wind blowing over the sleeves of the Suma fishers, the beloved grows familiar but cannot be held in the hand. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Love by the Sea."
The author is Fujiwara no Teika; "Ason" in the original name is an honorific for officials of the fifth rank and above. He was the son of Fujiwara no Shunzei and one of the compilers of the Shin Kokinshū.

The first line, "suma no ama no," means "of the fishers of Suma Bay," a hypermetric line of six syllables. After "suma no urabito" in poem 1083 of this book, the fishers of Suma appear again.
The second line, "sode ni fukikosu," means "blowing over the sleeves."
The third line, "shiokaze no," means "of the salt-laden sea wind," and the lines up to here lead to "naru" in the fourth line.
In the fourth line, "naru to wa suredo," "naru" holds both "naru," the salt wind sounding on the sleeves, and "naru," to grow familiar with the beloved. "Suredo" is adversative: "though we do grow close."
The last line, "te ni mo tamarazu," means "it does not stay even in the hand." As the passing salt wind cannot be held in the hand, so the beloved, however familiar, cannot be made one's own, and the poem shows the emptiness of such a love.
Author: Fujiwara no Teika
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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