Toshi o hete kienu omoi wa arinagara yoru no tamoto wa nao kōrikeri - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

年を経て消えぬおもひはありながら
夜の袂はなほ凍りけり

Roma-ji: Toshi o hete kienu omoi wa arinagara yoru no tamoto wa nao kōrikeri
English Translation: Though through all the years
the fire of love within me
has never gone out,
still the sleeves I wear at night
have frozen stiff with tears.
Meaning: Though the fire of love that has burned for years has never gone out, the sleeves I wear at night are still frozen with my tears.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 596

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says that although he holds in his heart a fire of love that has not gone out through the long years, his sleeves on nights spent alone are frozen with tears. The hi of omoi, love, is punned with hi, fire, and by contrasting the contradiction of burning fire and frozen sleeves, heat and cold, he expresses the pain of an unrequited love. It is the last of the four poems by Tomonori in this book.
Ki no Tomonori was a poet of the early Heian period, the son of Ki no Aritomo and a cousin of Ki no Tsurayuki. He served as Senior Private Secretary and was appointed one of the compilers of the Kokinshū, but died before its completion. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

First line, "toshi o hete": "through long years," showing that the love has lasted a long time.
Second line, "kienu omoi wa": omoi puns on the hi of omoi, love, and hi, fire, meaning an unquenched fire of love. Kie, "go out," is an associated word of fire.
Third line, "arinagara": nagara is concessive, "although there is."
Fourth line, "yoru no tamoto wa": the sleeves on a night spent alone, implying that they are wet with tears.
Fifth line, "nao kōrikeri": nao means still, even so, and keri expresses realization. He laments on noticing the contradiction that his sleeves freeze though there is fire. It resonates with 563 of this book, in which the same poet compared the cold of his sleeves when sleeping alone with frost.
Author: Ki no Tomonori
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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