Musubi okishi tamoto dani minu hanasusuki karu tomo kareji kimi shi tokazu wa - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

結び置きし袂だに見ぬ花すすき
刈るともかれじ君しとかずは

Roma-ji: Musubi okishi tamoto dani minu hanasusuki karu tomo kareji kimi shi tokazu wa
English Translation: I cannot even see
the sleeve where we tied our pledge;
plumed pampas grass—
even cut, it will not wither,
so long as you do not untie it
Meaning: I cannot now see even the sleeve on which we tied our pledge; yet like the plumed pampas grass that does not wither even when cut, our bond will not fade, so long as you do not untie it.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1215

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the seventh poem of the sequence on a love whose visits have ceased. He cannot now see even the sleeve on which they tied their pledge, yet as plumed pampas grass does not wither when cut, their bond will not part so long as she does not untie it. The headnote continues "Topic unknown" from the preceding poem, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Provisional Middle Counselor Atsutada," is Fujiwara no Atsutada. A son of the Minister of the Left Fujiwara no Tokihira, he rose to Provisional Middle Counselor. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

The first line, "musubi okishi," means "that we tied," and has six syllables, one more than the norm. It is the same word as "musubi okite" in 1213 of this book, referring to tying a pledge.
The second line, "tamoto dani minu," means "not seeing even the sleeve." The plumes of pampas grass are likened to sleeves, and the line shows how hard it is to meet, when he cannot even see her.
The third line, "hanasusuki," is pampas grass in plume. It is the pivot of the poem, joining "sleeve" in the second line to "cutting" and "withering" in the fourth.
In the fourth line, "karu tomo kareji," "kare" is a pivot word meaning both "grass withering" and "lovers drawing apart." Like pampas grass that does not wither when cut, he says, their bond will not part. Following "thatch grass they say is cut" in the preceding poem, it sings of grass that is cut.
The last line, "kimi shi tokazu wa," means "so long as you do not untie it," with "shi" an emphatic particle. "Tying" in the first line and "untying" in the last form a pair, and he wishes their bond to last on the condition that she does not undo the knot of their pledge.
Author: Fujiwara no Atsutada
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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