Suminoe no kishi ni yoru nami yoru sae ya yume no kayoiji hitome yokuramu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

住の江の岸に寄る波よるさへや
夢の通ひ路人目よくらむ

Roma-ji: Suminoe no kishi ni yoru nami yoru sae ya yume no kayoiji hitome yokuramu
English Translation: On Suminoe's shore
the waves come in to the bank;
even in the night
along the path of dreams
do you shun the eyes of others?
Meaning: Like the waves that draw near the shore at Suminoe, you draw near only by night, yet even then, on the road of dreams, do you still avoid the eyes of others?
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 559

Headnote: "A poem from the poetry contest held at the residence of the Empress in the Kanpyō era"
The poet laments that even on the road of dreams at night, when there are no watching eyes, the beloved still avoids others' gaze and will not come to meet him. The waves approaching the shore at Suminoe serve as a preface, and the word yoru, "to approach," leads by sound to yoru, "night." The sadness of a love that cannot meet shows in his guess that the one who will not even appear in his dreams must be worried about being seen. Composed for the Kanpyō-era Empress's poetry contest, it was later chosen by Fujiwara no Teika for the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Fujiwara no Toshiyuki was a poet of the early Heian period, the son of Fujiwara no Fujimaro. He served as Head Chamberlain and Captain of the Right Military Guards and was known as a master calligrapher. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

First line, "Suminoe no": Suminoe is a famous poetic place in Settsu Province, the coast around Sumiyoshi Shrine in present-day Sumiyoshi Ward, Osaka.
Second line, "kishi ni yoru nami": together with the first line it forms a preface, and the sound of yoru leads into yoru in the third line. The image of waves coming and going overlaps with the beloved who does not come.
Third line, "yoru sae ya": yoru takes up the "approach" of the second line and becomes "night" by homophony, so both senses resonate. Sae adds "even," meaning "not only by day but even by night." Ya is an interrogative binding particle paired with ramu in the last line.
Fourth line, "yume no kayoiji": the road by which one travels to the beloved in dreams. It corresponds to "the straight road of dreams" in the previous poem, 558, as the same poet sings of the dream road twice in succession.
Fifth line, "hitome yokuramu": yoku means to avoid, and ramu conjectures about the present, taking the attributive form as the resolution of ya. It expresses the lament that even in dreams the beloved shuns others' eyes.
Author: Fujiwara no Toshiyuki
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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