Ta ga tame ni hikite saraseru nuno nare ya yo o hete miredo toru hito mo naki - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

誰がために引きてさらせる布なれや
世を経て見れど取る人もなき

Roma-ji: Ta ga tame ni hikite saraseru nuno nare ya yo o hete miredo toru hito mo naki
English Translation: For whose sake
has it been drawn out to bleach,
this cloth of white?
Though ages pass as I look on,
no one comes to take it in.
Meaning: For whom is this cloth drawn out and left to bleach? Though I have watched it through the ages, no one comes to take it in.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 924

Headnote: "Composed on seeing the Yoshino Falls"
Seeing the Yoshino Falls, the poet likens the white falling water to cloth drawn out and left to bleach in the sun. It has been exposed for ages and no one takes it in, he says, capturing the endless flow of the falls.
The author, "Shōkin Hōshi," is a monk whose life is little known.
The last line of the main text reads "toru hito mo naki," which does not match "toru hito no naki" in the reading line. Here the main text is followed.

First line "ta ga tame ni" asks for whose sake, wondering about the cloth's owner.
Second line "hikite saraseru" means drawn out and bleaching in the sun, likening the falls to white cloth.
Third line "nuno nare ya" is the perfective form with the question ya: can it be cloth? Poems 926 and 927 in this book also liken waterfalls to cloth, so the figure runs through them.
Fourth line "yo o hete miredo" means though I look on through long years. It echoes the same phrase in poem 929 in this book, "yo o hete otsuru."
Fifth line "toru hito mo naki" means no one takes it in, closing with the attributive form to leave a lingering note.
Author: Priest Shōkin
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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