Yo no tsune no akikaze naraba ogi no ha ni soyo to bakari no oto wa shitemashi - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

世の常の秋風ならば荻の葉に
そよとばかりの音はしてまし

Roma-ji: Yo no tsune no akikaze naraba ogi no ha ni soyo to bakari no oto wa shitemashi
English Translation: Were it just the kind
of autumn wind the world knows,
upon the reed leaves
it would surely make a sound,
if only a faint rustle
Meaning: If you were only the ordinary autumn wind, you would at least make a faint rustle in the leaves of the reeds.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1212

Headnote: "When he, later Sanjō-in, was still crown prince, and had not visited her for a long time."
This is the fourth poem of the sequence on a love whose visits have ceased. If he were only the ordinary autumn wind, he would at least make a faint rustle in the reed leaves—reproaching a lover who sends not even a word. According to the headnote, it was sent when Emperor Sanjō was crown prince and had not visited her for a long time.
The author, "Daughter of the Monk Anpō," was a daughter of the poet-monk Anpō. Anpō was a great-grandson of Minamoto no Tōru and lived at the Kawara-in.
"Miko no miya" in the headnote here refers to the crown prince.

The first line, "yo no tsune no," means "of the ordinary kind."
The second line, "akikaze naraba," means "were it the autumn wind." It is a counterfactual supposition answering "mashi," containing the reproach that he is not even an ordinary autumn wind.
The third line, "ogi no ha ni," means "upon the reed leaves." The reed is sung as an image announcing autumn's arrival by the sound of its leaves rustling in the wind.
The fourth line, "soyo to bakari no," means "just a faint rustle." "Soyo" represents the sound of rustling leaves, likened to the slightest word of news.
The last line, "oto wa shitemashi," means "it would make a sound." "Oto," "sound," also suggests a message. Like 1199 of this book, which sang that even the fickle wind sounds in the pine, it compares the wind's visit with a lover's, reproaching his silence as worse than the wind's.
Author: Daughter of the Monk Anpō
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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