Akikaze no mi ni samukereba tsure mo naki hito o zo tanomu kururu yogoto ni - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋風の身に寒ければつれもなき
人をぞ頼む暮るる夜ごとに

Roma-ji: Akikaze no mi ni samukereba tsure mo naki hito o zo tanomu kururu yogoto ni
English Translation: Because the autumn wind
feels so cold against my skin,
on one who shows no care
still I place my trust, and wait
every night as darkness falls.
Meaning: Because the autumn wind chills me to the bone, I find myself placing my hopes in someone who cares nothing for me, every night as darkness falls.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 555

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Because the autumn wind feels cold, the speaker, though knowing the other is indifferent, relies on that person's visit each time night falls. The chill of the autumn wind is overlaid with the loneliness of sleeping alone, depicting a heart clinging to a hopeless love. It is a poem of waiting and is understood as composed from a woman's point of view.
The Monk Sosei was the son of Archbishop Henjō, and his lay name was Yoshimine no Harutoshi. After taking the tonsure he lived at Urin'in and later moved to Ryōin'in at Isonokami in Yamato. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

First line, "akikaze no": the autumn wind is often used in love poetry as an image of piercing cold, with aki (autumn) also suggesting aki (weariness) and hence fading love. After the three preceding dream poems, the sequence turns to poems that bring in seasonal images.
Second line, "mi ni samukereba": a perfective form with ba stating a cause, "because it is cold to me."
Third line, "tsure mo naki": tsurenashi means cold or indifferent, showing that the other's heart is not turned toward the speaker.
Fourth line, "hito o zo tanomu": the binding particle zo is resolved by the attributive tanomu, stressing the contradiction of relying on someone known to be cold. The poem breaks here, and the order with the last line is inverted.
Fifth line, "kururu yogoto ni": through inversion, the time of waiting is revealed only at the end, leaving the lingering sense of hope and disappointment repeated each time night falls.
Author: Sosei Hoshi
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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