Mijikayo no fukeyuku mama ni shirotae no mine no matsukaze fuku ka to zo kiku - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

短夜の更けゆくままに白妙の
峰の松風吹くかとぞ聞く

Roma-ji: Mijikayo no fukeyuku mama ni shirotae no mine no matsukaze fuku ka to zo kiku
English Translation: As the summer night,
so short, grows ever deeper,
on the peak of white,
the wind among the pines,
is it blowing there, I hear
Meaning: As the short summer night grows deeper, I listen to the koto and hear it as the wind blowing through the pines on the white peak.
Commentary: Book Four Summer Poems 167

Headnote: "On a summer night, hearing Fukayabu play the koto."
As the short summer night deepens, the koto played by Kiyohara no Fukayabu sounds to the poet like the wind in the pines on a mountain peak. Likening the koto to the sound of wind through the pines, he praises its clear tones in the depths of night.
According to the headnote, it was composed on a summer night on hearing Fukayabu play the koto. Fukayabu was known as a master of the koto and was one of the poets who frequented Kanesuke's residence. The next poem is Ki no Tsurayuki's on the same theme, and the two are set side by side on the sound of the koto.
The poet, Fujiwara no Kanesuke, was a son of Fujiwara no Toshimoto and rose to Middle Counselor. Because his residence stood on the embankment of the Kamo River, he was called the Embankment Middle Counselor, and he was a patron of Ki no Tsurayuki, Ōshikōchi no Mitsune, and others. He was the great-grandfather of Murasaki Shikibu and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
It is also included in Fujiwara no Teika's anthology Teika Hachidaishō.
The text gives the third line as "shirotae no," which does not match "takasago no" in the kana reading line. Teika Hachidaishō and most texts read "Takasago no," but the wording of the text is followed here.

The first line, "Mijikayo no," means "of the short night," marking the summer season.
The second line, "fukeyuku mama ni," means "as it grows late," showing the koto's tones growing clearer as the night deepens.
The third line, "shirotae no," is a pillow word that, from its sense of white cloth, modifies white things; here it attaches to the peak, suggesting a peak hazed in white.
The fourth line, "mine no matsukaze," is the wind blowing through the pines on the peak, set as a figure for the koto's sound. The next poem, 168, answers by likening the same koto to water, saying the mountain stream flows into its notes.
The last line, "fuku ka to zo kiku," means "I hear it as if it were blowing," with the particle "zo" forming a kakarimusubi pattern with the attributive "kiku."
Author: Fujiwara no Kanesuke
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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