Ajikinaku tsuraki arashi no koe mo ushi nado yūgure ni machinaraiken - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あぢきなくつらき嵐の声も憂し
など夕暮れに待ちならひけん

Roma-ji: Ajikinaku tsuraki arashi no koe mo ushi nado yūgure ni machinaraiken
English Translation: It is all in vain,
even the voice of the gale
is hateful to me;
why is it that at nightfall
I grew so used to waiting
Meaning: It is all in vain—even the harsh voice of the storm wind is hateful to me. Why have I come to make a habit of waiting at dusk?
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1196

Headnote: "When the monk Saigyō had various people compose hundred-poem sequences."
This is the eighth and closing poem of the sequence on waiting for the next evening after a meeting. In vain, even the harsh voice of the storm wind is hateful; why has waiting at dusk become a habit? According to the headnote, it is one of a hundred-poem sequence that Saigyō urged various people to compose.
The author, "Teika Ason," is Fujiwara no Teika. A son of Fujiwara no Shunzei, he was one of the compilers of the Shinkokinshū and later compiled the Shinchokusenshū.
The hundred-poem sequences Saigyō solicited are called the "Futami Bay Hundred Poems," since he had them composed for Futami Bay in Ise.

The first line, "ajikinaku," means "in vain," "to no purpose," first showing a heart whose waiting brings nothing.
The second line, "tsuraki arashi no," means "of the harsh storm wind." The violent wind of evening throws the waiting heart into still greater turmoil.
The third line, "koe mo ushi," means "even its voice is hateful," with a pause after the third line. "Mo," "even," implies "on top of the lover's not coming."
The fourth line, "nado yūgure ni," means "why at dusk." It takes up the preceding poems, which kept waiting for dusk as the hour of meeting.
The last line, "machinaraiken," means "have I grown used to waiting?" "Ken" conjectures a cause in the past. Reflecting on a self for whom waiting at dusk has become a habit, it closes the sequence on waiting for evening and moves on to the poems that follow, which wait for one who does not come by way of the moon and the wind.
Author: Fujiwara no Teika
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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