Matsuyama to chigirishi hito wa tsurenakute sode kosu nami ni nokoru tsukikage - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

松山と契りし人はつれなくて
袖越す波に残る月影

Roma-ji: Matsuyama to chigirishi hito wa tsurenakute sode kosu nami ni nokoru tsukikage
English Translation: Though the one who swore
by Pine Mountain turned cold, now
waves of tears spill past
my sleeve, and on those waves there
lingers still the moon's pale light.
Meaning: The one who vowed by the Pine Mountain that no wave would ever cross it has turned cold, and on the waves of tears that spill over my sleeve the moonlight lingers.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1284

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the topic 'Love Before the Moon,' at the Bureau of Poetry on the fifteenth night of the eighth month."
This is the twenty-ninth and last poem of the sequence of love poems on the moon. The one who swore by Sue no Matsuyama never to change has turned cold, the speaker says, and only moonlight remains on the waves of tears that cross the sleeve. Continuing from the preceding poem, it was composed on the topic "Love Before the Moon" at the Bureau of Poetry on the fifteenth night of the eighth month.
The author, "Teika, Lord of the Court," is Fujiwara no Teika. A son of Fujiwara no Shunzei, he was one of the compilers of the Shinkokinshū and later compiled the Shinchokusenshū on his own.
Sue no Matsuyama is a poetic place in Mutsu Province, thought to be near present-day Tagajō in Miyagi Prefecture. Through the Eastern Song in the Kokinshū, "If I should leave you and turn my heart to another, the waves would surely cross Sue no Matsuyama," it became a mountain no wave could cross, sung as a vow of constancy. Kiyohara no Motosuke's poem in the Goshūishū, "Did we not vow, each wringing tears from our sleeves, that no wave would cross Sue no Matsuyama?" also draws on it, and this poem takes both as its foundation poems.

The first line, "matsuyama to," means "swearing by Sue no Matsuyama." Merely naming the mountain expresses the vow never to change.
The second line, "chigirishi hito wa," means "the one who vowed." It takes up "chigiriki na," "did we not vow," in Motosuke's poem.
The third line, "tsurenakute," means "cold, heartless," the coldness of one who broke the vow.
The fourth line, "sode kosu nami ni," means that waves which should never cross Sue no Matsuyama spill over the sleeve as tears. Reversing the foundation poems' "the waves would cross" and "no wave would cross," it turns the waves of inconstancy into waves of tears.
The last line, "nokoru tsukikage," ends on a noun. It shows the dawn moon reflected and lingering on the waves of tears; the image that the person has gone and only the moon remains closes the sequence of love poems on the moon.
Author: Fujiwara no Teika
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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