Kaze fukedo tokoro mo saranu shirakumo wa yo o hete otsuru mizu ni zo arikeru - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

風吹けど所も去らぬ白雲は
世を経て落つる水にぞありける

Roma-ji: Kaze fukedo tokoro mo saranu shirakumo wa yo o hete otsuru mizu ni zo arikeru
English Translation: Though the wind blows,
the white cloud never leaves
its place at all—
it is water falling on
through ages without end.
Meaning: The white cloud that never leaves its place though the wind blows turns out to be water that has been falling through the ages.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 929

Headnote: "Composed on the same falls"
Composed on the same Otowa Falls on Mount Hiei as the preceding poem. What looked from afar like a white cloud does not move even when the wind blows, and the poet realizes with surprise that it is the water of the falls, which has been falling for ages. The height and whiteness of falls that could be mistaken for cloud are conveyed.
The author, "Mitsune," is Ōshikōchi no Mitsune, one of the compilers of the Kokin Wakashū and one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

First line "kaze fukedo" uses the adversative do: though the wind blows.
Second line "tokoro mo saranu" means not leaving its place, presupposing that a cloud should drift with the wind.
Third line "shirakumo wa" is the figure of seeing the falls from afar as a white cloud.
Fourth line "yo o hete otsuru" means falling through long ages, echoing the same phrase in poem 924 of this book, "yo o hete miredo."
Fifth line "mizu ni zo arikeru" closes zo with keru, showing the surprise of realizing it is the water of the falls. The preceding poem likened the falls to white hair; this one likens them to white cloud, a pair treating the same falls with different figures.
Author: Oshikochi no Mitsune
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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