Akikaze ni kakinasu koto no koe ni sae hakanaku hito no koishikaruramu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋風にかきなす琴の声にさへ
はかなく人の恋しかるらむ

Roma-ji: Akikaze ni kakinasu koto no koe ni sae hakanaku hito no koishikaruramu
English Translation: In the autumn wind
even in the sound
of a koto being played,
why is it that, for no cause,
I yearn so for the one I love?
Meaning: Even in the sound of a koto strummed in the autumn wind, why is it that I long for her so, for no reason at all?
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 586

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet asks why, even on hearing a koto strummed in the autumn wind, he should long so aimlessly for the beloved. The lonely sounds of the autumn wind and the koto overlap, expressing a heart drawn into longing by whatever it hears. In this part of the book, poems that bring in autumn images are gathered together.
Mibu no Tadamine was a poet of the early Heian period and the father of Mibu no Tadami. Although a low-ranking official, he was chosen as one of the compilers of the Kokinshū. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

First line, "akikaze ni": "in the autumn wind." The autumn wind is sung as an image that stirs loneliness.
Second line, "kakinasu koto no": kakinasu means to strum the strings.
Third line, "koe ni sae": koe is the sound of the koto. Sae adds "even," meaning "even at the koto's sound." Following the calling geese of the previous poem, 585, the koto is taken up here, and poems in which sounds stir longing stand side by side.
Fourth line, "hakanaku hito no": hakanaku here means aimlessly, for no reason.
Fifth line, "koishikaruramu": ramu conjectures a cause, closing with the self-question "why do I long so?"
Author: Mibu no Tadamine
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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