Kakete omou hito mo nakeredo yū sareba omokage taenu tamakazura kana - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

かけて思ふ人もなけれど夕されば
面影絶えぬ玉かづらかな

Roma-ji: Kakete omou hito mo nakeredo yū sareba omokage taenu tamakazura kana
English Translation: Though there is no one
who holds me close in their thoughts,
when the evening comes
her face never leaves my mind,
like a jeweled vine unbroken
Meaning: Though there is no one who keeps me in their heart, when evening comes her image never fades—like a jeweled vine that is never broken.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1219

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the eleventh poem of the sequence on a love whose visits have ceased. Though no one holds him in their heart, when evening comes her image never fades, like a jeweled vine. The headnote continues "Topic unknown" from the preceding poem, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Tsurayuki," is Ki no Tsurayuki. A son of Ki no Mochiyuki, he wrote the kana preface as one of the compilers of the Kokinshū and wrote The Tosa Diary.

In the first line, "kakete omou," "kake" is a pivot word meaning both "to hold in one's heart" and "to hang" a jeweled vine, and the line has six syllables, one more than the norm. It forms an associated word with "tamakazura" in the last line.
The second line, "hito mo nakeredo," means "though there is no one," showing the present state of a love that has ceased: there is no one who thinks of him.
The third line, "yū sareba," means "when evening comes." Evening is the hour of waiting for a lover, recalling the poems of waiting for dusk from 1189 of this book on.
The fourth line, "omokage taenu," means "the image never fades." "Tayu," "to break," is an associated word of the jeweled vine, suggesting a vine or cord breaking.
The last line, "tamakazura kana," means "such is the jeweled vine," closing with the exclamatory "kana." "Tamakazura" is a hair ornament of jewels strung on a cord, or a graceful name for a vine, and as an associated word of "hanging" and "breaking" it binds the poem together. It closes, in exclamation on a noun, the lament that though no longer loved, the beloved's image alone never fades.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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