Matsu no ne ni kaze no shirabe o makasete wa Tatsutahime koso aki wa hikurashi - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

松のねに風の調べをまかせては
竜田姫こそ秋は弾くらし

Roma-ji: Matsu no ne ni kaze no shirabe o makasete wa Tatsutahime koso aki wa hikurashi
English Translation: To the pines' deep roots
leaving all the wind's music,
it must be that she,
Tatsuta, the autumn goddess,
plays the koto in the fall
Meaning: Entrusting the wind's melody to the sound of the pines, it must be Tatsutahime, goddess of autumn, who plays the koto in the fall.
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems I 265

Headnote: "At the poetry contest held at the residence of Prince Koresada."
The poet says that, entrusting the wind's melody to the sound of the pines, it must be Tatsutahime who plays the koto in autumn. Hearing the wind in the pines as the koto, he imagines its player to be Tatsutahime, the goddess of autumn.
According to the headnote, it was composed at a poetry contest held at the residence of Prince Koresada, a son of Emperor Kōkō. 217, the opening poem of this book, also comes from that contest. Where the preceding poem heard the wind in the pines as waves, this poem hears it as a koto.
The poet, Mibu no Tadamine, was one of the compilers of the Kokin Wakashū and served as a clerk of the Right Gate Guards, among other posts. He is credited with the treatise on poetry Wakatai Jisshu and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. His "ariake no tsurenaku mieshi wakare yori" is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

In the first line, "ne" is a pivot word joining "ne," the roots of the pines, and "ne," the sound of a koto. It takes up the wind in the pines of the preceding poem, 264.
The second line, "kaze no shirabe o," means "the melody the wind plays," likening the sound of wind in the pines to the tones of a koto.
The third line, "makasete wa," means "entrusting."
In the fourth line, Tatsutahime is the goddess of autumn, a deification of Mount Tatsuta, and "koso" is an emphatic particle.
In the last line, "rashi" is a conjecture with grounds: "she must play it in autumn." It answers "koso" in the fourth line, closing with the perfective "rashi." "Shirabe" and "hiku" are associated words of "ne."
Author: Mibu no Tadamine
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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