Kage ni tote tachikakurureba karagoromo nurenu ame furu matsu no koe kana - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

陰にとて立ち隠るれば唐衣
濡れぬ雨降る松の声かな

Roma-ji: Kage ni tote tachikakurureba karagoromo nurenu ame furu matsu no koe kana
English Translation: Seeking out the shade,
as I stand concealed beneath,
my fine Chinese robe
stays dry, yet rain seems to fall—
the voice of the pine trees.
Meaning: When I step beneath the pines seeking their shade, a rain seems to fall that does not wet my robe—the voice of the wind in the pines.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1683

Headnote: "When I visited someone and various people came down to sit and amuse themselves in the shade of the pines."
This is a single poem on the voice of the pines. When the poet steps beneath the pines for their shade, there is a sound like rain that does not wet the robe: the wind in the pines. According to the headnote, it was composed when he visited someone and the company came down to sit and amuse themselves in the shade of the pines.
The author, "Tsurayuki," was a son of Ki no Mochiyuki and one of the compilers of the Kokinshū. He wrote its Kana Preface and authored the Tosa Diary.

The first line, "kage ni tote," means "seeking the shade."
The second line, "tachikakurureba," means "when I stand hidden beneath." The realis form with "ba" expresses a settled condition.
The third line, "karagoromo," is a fine robe. The poem breaks at this noun after the third line, leading into "nurenu," "not wet."
The fourth line, "nurenu ame furu," means "a rain falls that does not wet it." The sound of the wind in the pines is heard as the sound of rain. In likening pine wind to rain, it echoes "sode ni shigururu niwa no matsukaze" in 1638 in this book.
The last line, "matsu no koe kana," means "it is the voice of the pines." With the exclamation "kana," it closes by revealing what the sound taken for rain really is. Turning from the ruined old home of the preceding sequence, it sings of a bright scene of people at leisure in the shade of pines.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Kore ya mishi mukashi sumiken ato naran yomogi ga tsuyu ni tsuki no kakareru
Next Poem: Isonokami furinishi hito o tazunureba aretaru yado ni sumire tsumikeri