Ikuyo ware nami ni shiorete kibunegawa sode ni tama chiru mono omouran - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

幾夜われ波にしほれて貴船川
袖に玉散る物思ふらん

Roma-ji: Ikuyo ware nami ni shiorete kibunegawa sode ni tama chiru mono omouran
English Translation: For how many nights
must I, drenched by the waves
of Kibune's stream,
with jewels scattered on my sleeves,
sink so deep in thoughts of love?
Meaning: For how many nights must I, drenched by the waves of the Kibune River, sink in longing, with jewels of tears scattering on my sleeves?
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 1141

Headnote: "When I held a hundred-poem contest at my house; on the idea of 'Praying for Love.'"
This is the second of three poems on a love that lasts through the years and on prayer. Going to Kibune to pray for love, the speaker wonders how many nights he must be drenched by the waves, scattering jewels of tears on his sleeves in longing. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Praying for Love" for a hundred-poem contest he held at his house.
The author, "Regent and Grand Chancellor," is Fujiwara no Yoshitsune. The son of Regent Kujō Kanezane, he rose to regent and grand chancellor and wrote the kana preface to the Shin Kokinshū.
This contest is the Poetry Contest in Six Hundred Rounds, held by Yoshitsune in Kenkyū 4 (1193). The Kibune River flows through Yamashiro Province (Sakyō Ward, Kyoto), with Kibune Shrine upstream, known as a god to whom prayers for love were made.

The first line, "ikuyo ware," means "for how many nights must I," and runs on to "mono omouran" in the last line.
The second line, "nami ni shiorete," means "drenched and wilting in the waves," layering the waves of the Kibune River with tears.
The third line, "kibunegawa," is the river flowing by Kibune Shrine, where prayers for love were made, placed as a place-name that shows the "prayer" of the topic.
The fourth line, "sode ni tama chiru," means "jewels scatter on my sleeves," the jewels layering the river's spray with drops of tears.
The last line, "mono omouran," means "must I sink in longing," with "ran" the present conjectural. Taking up "ikuyo" of the first line, it shows a grief whose longing never ends however many prayers are made. The next poem also speaks of "inoru chigiri," so the two poems on praying for love are placed side by side.
Author: Fujiwara no Yoshitsune
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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