Kurenai ni namida no iro no nariyuku o ikushio made to kimi ni towaba ya - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

紅に涙の色のなりゆくを
いくしほまでと君に問はばや

Roma-ji: Kurenai ni namida no iro no nariyuku o ikushio made to kimi ni towaba ya
English Translation: Into crimson now
the color of my tears
turns, and I would ask
of you how many dippings
it has taken to dye them so.
Meaning: The color of my tears keeps turning to crimson; I would like to ask you how many times they have been dipped in the dye to become so deep.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 1123

Headnote: "At a poetry contest at the house of the Lay Priest and Former Regent and Grand Chancellor."
This is the fourth poem of the sequence on sleeves and tears. As the color of the speaker's tears turns to crimson, he would ask the beloved how many dippings it took to dye them so. According to the headnote, it was composed at a poetry contest held at the house of the Lay Priest and Former Regent and Grand Chancellor.
The author is Dōin; "Hōshi" in the original name means a monk. His lay name was Fujiwara no Atsuyori, and he took vows in old age.
The "Lay Priest and Former Regent and Grand Chancellor" of the headnote is Kujō Kanezane.

The first line, "kurenai ni," means "into crimson." Taking up the color of the sleeves in the preceding poems, it sings of tears of love dyed crimson.
The second line, "namida no iro no," means "the color of my tears." Against "sode no iro" in poem 1121 of this book, here the color of the tears themselves is sung.
The third line, "nariyuku o," means "turning," showing the color gradually deepening.
In the fourth line, "ikushio made to," "shio" is a word for the number of times cloth is dipped in dye, so it means "how many dippings to reach this." The deepening color of the tears is likened to cloth dyed again and again.
The last line, "kimi ni towaba ya," means "I would ask you," with "baya" expressing the speaker's own wish. Holding that it is the beloved's coldness that has dyed the tears crimson, the speaker would put the question to that very person.
Author: Dōin
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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