Hisakata no amatsu otome ga natsugoromo kumoi ni sarasu nunobiki no taki - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

久方の天つ乙女が夏衣
雲居にさらす布引の滝

Roma-ji: Hisakata no amatsu otome ga natsugoromo kumoi ni sarasu nunobiki no taki
English Translation: From the far heavens
the maidens of the sky
their summer garments
spread to bleach among the clouds—
the falls of Nunobiki.
Meaning: It is as though the maidens of heaven were spreading their summer robes to bleach in the clouds—the falls of Nunobiki.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1653

Headnote: "On a place where the Nunobiki Falls were painted on the sliding panels of the Saishō Shitennō-in."
This is the third poem of the sequence on the Nunobiki Falls. The Nunobiki Falls look like summer robes that heavenly maidens spread to bleach in the sky. According to the headnote, it was composed to accompany a painting of the Nunobiki Falls on the sliding panels of the Saishō Shitennō-in.
The author, "Ariie Ason," was a son of Fujiwara no Shigeie and one of the compilers of the Shin Kokinshū.
The Saishō Shitennō-in was a temple Retired Emperor Go-Toba built at Shirakawa in the capital in Jōgen 1 (1207). Famous places of the provinces were painted on its sliding panels, accompanied by poems of the poets.

The first line, "hisakata no," is a pillow word for "heaven."
The second line, "amatsu otome ga," means "the maidens of heaven." "Tsu" is an old case particle equivalent to "no."
The third line, "natsugoromo," is a thin summer robe. Suggesting thin white cloth, it is laid over the look of the falls.
The fourth line, "kumoi ni sarasu," means "spread to bleach high in the sky." The bleaching of cloth white is likened to the white stream of the falls. Taking up "sora ni miyuru" and "shirakumo" of the preceding poem, it further likens the falls pouring from the sky to cloth in heaven.
The last line, "nunobiki no taki," ends in a noun with the same last line as the preceding poem. The structure of revealing what is being likened at the close is also shared, and it closes the Nunobiki sequence.
Author: Fujiwara no Ariie
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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