Harusame ni koromo wa itaku tōrame ya nanuka shi furaba nanuka koji to ya

春雨に衣はいたく通らめや
七日し降らば七日来じとや

Roma-ji: Harusame ni koromo wa itaku tōrame ya nanuka shi furaba nanuka koji to ya
English Translation: In the rain of spring
could your robe be soaked right through?
If for seven days
the rain falls, for seven days
will you then not come to me?
Meaning: Could the spring rain really soak your robe right through? If it rains for seven days, do you mean you will not come for seven days?
Commentary: Book Ten Spring Love Poems 1917

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love Expressed Through Rain"
This poem presses a beloved who does not come on account of the spring rain: surely the spring rain cannot soak a robe through, so if it rains seven days, does he mean to stay away seven days? Resentment at a lover who uses a light spring rain as an excuse, and the strength of the wish to meet, show in the reproachful tone. Whereas 1877 is sung from the side of a man held up by spring rain, this poem reproaches that excuse from the side of the waiting woman, sung from the opposite position.

The first line, "in the spring rain," gives the reason.
In the second line, "koromo wa itaku," "itaku" means badly.
In the third line, "tōrame ya," "me ya" is rhetorical: would it soak through? surely not. The poem breaks here.
In the fourth line, "nanuka shi furaba," "shi" is emphatic and "ba" marks a supposition; the exaggeration of seven days reproaches the beloved.
In the last line, "nanuka koji to ya," "ji" is negative intention and "to ya" presses the question, closing with the challenge: will you not come for seven days?
Source: Manyoshu
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