Itsu wa shimo koinu toki to wa aranedomo yū katamakete koi wa subenashi

いつはしも恋ひぬ時とはあらねども
夕かたまけて恋ひはすべなし

Roma-ji: Itsu wa shimo koinu toki to wa aranedomo yū katamakete koi wa subenashi
English Translation: There is no moment
at which I do not love you,
and yet even so,
as evening draws upon me,
this love is beyond all help
Meaning: There is never a time when I do not love you, and yet when evening comes on, my longing is beyond all help.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2373

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing One's Feelings Directly"
There is no time when the speaker does not long for the beloved, yet as dusk approaches the longing swells beyond control: so this poem says. Amid a love that lasts all day, it states simply the sense that feeling reaches its peak at evening.
The headnote continues from the preceding poem, "Expressing One's Feelings Directly." Evening was the hour when men visited women, a time when the heart waiting for a meeting grew most intense. Poems of longing at dusk are common among the love poems of the Man'yoshu, and this one sums up that feeling concisely.
The author is unknown; according to the left note, the poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection. That collection is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he recorded. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jito and Emperor Monmu, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "itsu wa shimo": "at whatever time." The particle "wa" combined with the emphatic "shimo" strengthens the sense of "no matter which time."
Second line, "koinu toki to wa": "a time of not longing." "Koinu" is the verb "kou," to love, with the attributive form of the negative "zu."
Third line, "aranedomo": "though there is none." The concessive "domo" lays down the premise that the longing never ceases, then turns in the closing lines to the special feeling of evening.
Fourth line, "yū katamakete": "katamaku" means for a season or hour to draw near or arrive. It fixes the time: "as evening comes on."
Fifth line, "koi wa subenashi": "longing is beyond help." "Subenashi" means that there is no remedy, a word that echoes "subenaki koto wa" in poem 2368.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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