Akikaze no yaya fukishikeba no o samumi wabishiki koe ni matsumushi zo naku - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋風のやや吹きしけば野を寒み
わびしき声に松虫ぞ鳴く

Roma-ji: Akikaze no yaya fukishikeba no o samumi wabishiki koe ni matsumushi zo naku
English Translation: As the autumn wind
little by little blows harder,
the fields grow so cold
that in a voice of desolation
the pine crickets cry
Meaning: As the autumn wind blows harder little by little, the fields grow cold, and the pine crickets cry in desolate voices.
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems I 261

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that as the autumn wind gradually blows harder, the fields grow cold, and the pine crickets cry in desolate voices. It catches the deepening of autumn, the cold growing, and the insect voices growing weak and forlorn.
From 254 to 261, this book sets eight untitled poems by Ki no Tsurayuki in a row, turning in order to the voices of autumn insects: the evening cicada, the cricket, and the pine cricket. This poem is the eighth, closing the sequence.
The poet, called "Tsurayuki," is Ki no Tsurayuki. A son of Ki no Mochiyuki, he was the leading compiler of the Kokin Wakashū and wrote its kana preface. He served as governor of Tosa among other posts, is known as the author of the Tosa Diary, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

The first line, "Akikaze no," means "the autumn wind," the same opening as 257 in the sequence.
In the second line, "yaya" means "gradually," "shike" is the perfective form of "shiku," to do repeatedly, and "ba" gives a reason: "since it blows harder and harder." 264 of this book also uses "fukishiku."
The third line, "no o samumi," means "because the fields are cold," the so-called mi construction. The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "wabishiki koe ni," means "in a desolate voice."
The last line, "matsumushi zo naku," means "the pine crickets cry," with the particle "zo" and the attributive "naku" forming a kakarimusubi pattern. Following 259 and 260 in the sequence with the pine cricket, it closes Tsurayuki's sequence.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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