Iro nashi to hito ya miruramu mukashi yori fukaki kokoro ni someteshi mono o - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

色なしと人や見るらむ昔より
深き心に染めてしものを

Roma-ji: Iro nashi to hito ya miruramu mukashi yori fukaki kokoro ni someteshi mono o
English Translation: Colorless, perhaps,
is how others will see it—
yet since long ago
with a heart of deepest hue
I have dyed this cloth for you.
Meaning: Others may think it has no color, yet I have long dyed it with a heart of the deepest hue.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 869

Headnote: "Composed when sending undyed twill for a court robe to Major Counselor Fujiwara no Kunitsune, on his promotion from Consultant to Middle Counselor"
When Fujiwara no Kunitsune was promoted from Consultant to Middle Counselor, the poet sent him undyed twill for a court robe with this poem. The cloth has no color, but he says he has long dyed it with a deep heart, conveying years of warm regard and congratulations.
The author, "the Minister of the Right of Konoin," is Minamoto no Yoshiari, a son of Emperor Montoku who was given the Minamoto surname, became a subject, and rose to Minister of the Right. He was called the Konoin Minister after the name of his residence.
Kunitsune was a son of Fujiwara no Nagara and elder brother of Mototsune. Following the two preceding poems on purple, this poem speaks of cloth with "no color," so three poems about color stand together.

First line "iro nashi to" overlays undyed cloth with a lack of feeling, contrasting with the "deep color" of the preceding poem.
Second line "hito ya miruramu" closes the particle ya with the present-conjecture auxiliary ramu; the poem pauses here.
Third line "mukashi yori" shows the long friendship with Kunitsune.
Fourth line "fukaki kokoro ni" joins depth of color and depth of heart, showing the unseen color of feeling.
Fifth line "someteshi mono o" joins the perfective tsu, the past ki, and the adversative mono o: "though I had dyed it." "Dye" is an associated word of "color."
Author: Minamoto no Yoshiari
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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