Au koto wa tanabatatsume ni hitoshikute tachinuu waza wa aezu zo arikeru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あふことはたなばたつめに等しくて
裁ち縫ふわざはあへずぞありける

Roma-ji: Au koto wa tanabatatsume ni hitoshikute tachinuu waza wa aezu zo arikeru
English Translation: As for our meetings
they are just the same as those
of the Weaver Maid,
but the craft of cutting and sewing,
that, alas, I cannot manage
Meaning: Our meetings are as rare as those of the Weaver Maid, but her craft of cutting and sewing is something I cannot manage at all.
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems I 225

Headnote: "When Minamoto no Noboru was visiting her from time to time, around the fourth or fifth of the Seventh Month he sent word asking her to make him robes for the seventh, and so she replied."
She says that their meetings are as rare as the Weaver Maid's once a year, yet she cannot manage the cutting and sewing that the Weaver Maid excels at. Playing on the Weaver Maid's skill at the loom, she gently teases the man who visits only now and then, declining his request for robes.
According to the headnote, when Minamoto no Noboru was visiting her from time to time, he wrote around the fourth or fifth of the Seventh Month asking her to make robes for Tanabata on the seventh, and she composed this in reply. From this poem on, the book continues with poems on Tanabata.
The poet, "Kan'in," is thought to be a woman who lived at Kan'in, a residence in the Heian capital, but there is no settled view of who she was. Minamoto no Noboru was a son of Minamoto no Tōru, himself a son of Emperor Saga, and rose to Major Counselor.

The first line, "Au koto wa," means "as for our meeting," pointing to how rarely he comes.
The second line, "tanabatatsume ni," means "to the Weaver Maid," naming the star who can meet her lover only once a year.
The third line, "hitoshikute," means "being the same," showing that their meetings are as rare as hers.
The fourth line, "tachinuu waza wa," means "the work of cutting and sewing," taking up the request for robes in the headnote and linking it to the craft of the Weaver Maid, master of the loom.
In the last line, "aezu" means "cannot manage," and the particle "zo" with the attributive "keru" forms a kakarimusubi pattern: "this, it seems, I cannot do."
Author: Kan'in
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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