Ikaga fuku mi ni shimu iro no kawaru kana tanomuru kure no matsukaze no koe - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いかが吹く身にしむ色の変はるかな
頼むる暮れのまつ風の声

Roma-ji: Ikaga fuku mi ni shimu iro no kawaru kana tanomuru kure no matsukaze no koe
English Translation: How does it blow now?
the color that pierces me
has changed from before—
at the dusk you promised me,
the voice of the waiting pine wind
Meaning: How is it blowing now? The color of the wind that pierces me seems changed—the voice of the wind in the pines, heard as I wait at the dusk you promised me.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1201

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the fifth poem of the sequence on nights spent waiting for one who does not come. How is the pine wind blowing, heard at the dusk the lover promised? The color that pierces her seems changed. The headnote continues "Topic unknown" from the preceding poem, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Takakura of Hachijō-in," was a lady-in-waiting who served Hachijō-in, Princess Akiko, a daughter of Emperor Toba.

The first line, "ikaga fuku," means "how does it blow?" with a pause after the first line. It opens with a question to the wind itself.
The second line, "mi ni shimu iro no," means "of the color that pierces me." It senses a color in the invisible wind, expressing how it pierces the body.
The third line, "kawaru kana," means "how it has changed," with a pause after the exclamatory "kana." On the promised evening, the same wind pierces differently.
The fourth line, "tanomuru kure no," means "of the dusk you promised." "Tanomu" in its lower bigrade conjugation means "to make someone rely." Like "kyō wa tanomeshi kure" in 1194 and "tanomezu wa" in 1197 of this book, it sings of a promise.
In the last line, "matsukaze no koe," "matsu" is a pivot word meaning both "pine" and "to wait." Following the two preceding poems, the wind is bound to the heart that waits, and the next poem also ends with "the voice of the pine wind."
Author: Hachijoin no Takakura
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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