Sono yama to chigiranu tsuki mo akikaze mo susumuru sode ni tsuyu koboretsutsu - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

その山と契らぬ月も秋風も
すすむる袖に露こぼれつつ

Roma-ji: Sono yama to chigiranu tsuki mo akikaze mo susumuru sode ni tsuyu koboretsutsu
English Translation: Though I made no pledge
to any mountain, still the moon
and the autumn wind
urge me on, and on my sleeves
the dew keeps spilling down.
Meaning: Though I have pledged myself to no particular mountain, the moon and the autumn wind urge me toward one, and the dew of tears keeps spilling on my sleeves.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1762

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the feeling of personal grievance, at the Poetry Office."
This is the sixth of the sequence composed at the Poetry Office on personal grievance and the last of three by Fujiwara no Ietaka. Though he has vowed to live in no particular mountain, the moon and the autumn wind pierce him as if urging him to the mountains, and the dew of tears keeps spilling on his sleeves. It tells of a heart torn between the wish to leave the world and a self that cannot do so.
The author, "Ietaka Ason," is Fujiwara no Ietaka. No author is named in the original; the attribution continues from the preceding poem. A son of Fujiwara no Mitsutaka, he was one of the compilers of the Shin Kokinshū. He rose to Minister of the Imperial Household and was ranked alongside Fujiwara no Teika.

The first line, "sono yama to," means "to such-and-such a mountain," saying he has fixed on no mountain for seclusion. It contrasts with Jien's "hut I vowed to live in, in the mountain village" in 1757 of this book.
The second line, "chigiranu tsuki mo," means "even the moon, to which I made no pledge."
The third line, "akikaze mo," is the autumn wind that pierces the body, set alongside the moon as things that stir autumn brooding.
The fourth line, "susumuru sode ni," means "on the sleeves they urge." The moon and autumn wind seem to urge him to take vows.
The last line, "tsuyu koboretsutsu," means "the dew keeps spilling." Ending on "tsutsu," it leaves as an afterimage his unending tears and a heart that cannot decide.
Author: Fujiwara no Ietaka
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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