Koromode ni yamaoroshi fukite samuki yo o kimi kimasazu wa hitori ka mo nen - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

衣手に山おろし吹きて寒き夜を
君来まさずはひとりかも寝ん

Roma-ji: Koromode ni yamaoroshi fukite samuki yo o kimi kimasazu wa hitori ka mo nen
English Translation: Upon my sleeves blows
the wind down from the mountains,
on this cold, cold night,
if you do not come to me,
must I then sleep alone
Meaning: On this cold night, when the wind sweeps down from the mountains onto my sleeves, if you do not come, must I sleep alone?
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1208

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the twelfth and closing poem of the sequence on nights spent waiting for one who does not come. On a cold night when the mountain wind blows onto her sleeves, if the lover does not come, must she sleep alone? The headnote continues "Topic unknown" from the preceding poem, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Hitomaro," is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. He is the representative poet of the Man'yōshū and was revered by later ages as the Sage of Poetry.

The first line, "koromode ni," means "on my sleeves," "koromode" being a poetic word for sleeve.
The second line, "yamaoroshi fukite," means "the mountain wind blowing down," and has eight syllables, one more than the norm.
The third line, "samuki yo o," means "on this cold night," with "o" carrying a concessive sense; the cold strengthens the longing for one to lie beside.
The fourth line, "kimi kimasazu wa," means "if you do not come." "Kimasu" is an honorific form of "ku," "to come." It takes up the unkept promise "kimi kon to" of the preceding poem.
The last line, "hitori ka mo nen," means "must I sleep alone?" with "ka mo" forming a kakari-musubi with the conjectural "n." Where the preceding poem sang of longing through the days, this one narrows its focus to sleeping alone on a single cold night, closing the sequence on waiting for one who does not come in the ancient tone of the Man'yōshū.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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