Suma no ama no shio yaku keburi kaze o itami omowanu kata ni tanabikinikeri - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

須磨の海人の塩焼く煙風をいたみ
思はぬ方にたなびきにけり

Roma-ji: Suma no ama no shio yaku keburi kaze o itami omowanu kata ni tanabikinikeri
English Translation: The smoke of the fires
where Suma's fishers boil salt,
in the fierce wind
has drifted away and trailed
to a quarter I never thought.
Meaning: The smoke from the salt fires of the Suma fisherfolk, driven by the fierce wind, has trailed away in a direction I never imagined.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 708

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem overlays the smoke of Suma's salt fires, blown by a strong wind in an unexpected direction, with a lover's heart that has unexpectedly turned to someone else. On the surface it is pure description, yet it quietly carries a lament over a changed heart.
Taking up the resentment of a fickle lover in the preceding exchange, it likens the lover's heart turning elsewhere to trailing smoke. From here toward the latter half of the book, poems on changed hearts grow more frequent.

The first line, "Suma no ama no," refers to the fisherfolk of Suma Bay in Settsu and has six syllables, one more than usual.
The second line, "shio yaku keburi," is the smoke rising when seawater is boiled down to make salt, a characteristic sight of Suma Bay.
The third line, "kaze o itami," means "because the wind is fierce," using the pattern noun + "o" + adjective stem + "mi" to express a cause.
The fourth line, "omowanu kata ni," means "in an unexpected direction," hinting that the lover's heart has turned to another.
The final line, "tanabikinikeri," means "it has trailed away," closing with the perfective "nu" and the exclamatory "keri."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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