Ne ni nakite hichinishikadomo harusame ni nurenishi sode to towaba kotaemu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

音に泣きてひちにしかども春雨に
濡れにし袖と問はば答へむ

Roma-ji: Ne ni nakite hichinishikadomo harusame ni nurenishi sode to towaba kotaemu
English Translation: Though they have been drenched
from my weeping out aloud,
should anyone ask,
I shall answer these are sleeves
wet with the rains of spring.
Meaning: My sleeves are soaked because I wept aloud, but if anyone asks, I shall answer that they are wet with the spring rain.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 577

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says his sleeves are wet from weeping aloud, but if anyone asks, he will say they were wet with spring rain. In the wish to blame the spring rain so that no one will know these are tears of love, the poignancy of a hidden love shows through. Following the previous poem, which sings of tears wrung from sleeves in secret, this poem prepares an excuse for when someone asks about the wet sleeves.
Ōe no Chisato was a poet and Confucian scholar of the early Heian period, the son of Ōe no Otondo. At the command of Emperor Uda he presented a collection of waka composed on lines of Chinese poetry as topics. One of his poems was also chosen for the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, "ne ni nakite": ne ni naku means to weep aloud. The line has six syllables, one more than the norm.
Second line, "hichinishikadomo": hitsu means to be soaked, ni marks completion, and shika is the perfective of the past auxiliary ki; with the concessive domo it means "though they were soaked."
Third line, "harusame ni": spring rain falls finely and steadily and serves as a pretext for wet sleeves.
Fourth line, "nurenishi sode to": "sleeves wet with spring rain." Matching "hichinishi" in the second line, sleeves wet with tears are renamed sleeves wet with rain.
Fifth line, "towaba kotaemu": ba marks a hypothetical condition and mu expresses intention: "if anyone asks, that is what I will answer." Like "shinobi ni" in the previous poem, 576, it sings of the wish to hide tears of love from others.
Author: Oe no Chisato
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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