Yamashiro no yodo no wakakomo kari ni kite sode nurenu to wa kakotazaranan - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

山城の淀の若菰かりに来て
袖濡れぬとはかこたざらなん

Roma-ji: Yamashiro no yodo no wakakomo kari ni kite sode nurenu to wa kakotazaranan
English Translation: In Yamashiro
the young rushes of Yodo—
coming just to cut,
coming only in passing,
do not grumble your sleeves are wet
Meaning: Like one who comes to cut the young rushes of Yodo in Yamashiro, you come only in passing—so do not grumble that your sleeves have been soaked.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1218

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the tenth poem of the sequence on a love whose visits have ceased. Coming only in passing, like one who comes to cut the young rushes of Yodo, the lover should not grumble that his sleeves are wet. The headnote continues "Topic unknown" from the preceding poem, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Minamoto no Shigeyuki," was a son of Minamoto no Kanenobu of the Seiwa Genji and served as governor of various provinces. He presented a hundred-poem sequence to Emperor Reizei while the latter was crown prince, which is regarded as the oldest surviving hundred-poem sequence. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
Yodo is a famous poetic place in Yamashiro Province along the Yodo River, sung as a waterside where rushes grow.

The first line, "yamashiro no," means "of Yamashiro Province."
The second line, "yodo no wakakomo," means "the young rushes growing at the waterside of Yodo." The upper two lines form a preface leading to "kari" in the third line.
In the third line, "kari ni kite," "kari" is a pivot word meaning both "cutting rushes" and "in passing." It refers to visiting on a whim, without sincerity.
The fourth line, "sode nurenu to wa," means "that your sleeves are soaked." As cutting rushes at the waterside wets the sleeves, it refers to making much of the trouble of visiting, or of one's tears.
The last line, "kakotazaranan," means "I wish you would not grumble." "Nan" is a final particle expressing a wish directed at another. With irony—do not make much of your troubles when you visit only in passing—it rebukes the lover who seldom comes.
Author: Minamoto no Shigeyuki
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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