Iro fukaku someshi tamoto no itodoshiku namida ni sae mo kosa masaru kana - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

色深く染めし袂のいとどしく
涙にさへも濃さまさるかな

Roma-ji: Iro fukaku someshi tamoto no itodoshiku namida ni sae mo kosa masaru kana
English Translation: These sleeves of mine,
already dyed so deep a hue,
now all the more
with my tears as well
grow darker in their color
Meaning: My sleeves, already dyed a deep color, grow darker still, stained even by my tears.
Commentary: Book Nine Love Poems I 587

Headnote: "Sent to Taifu."
The poet says that his sleeves, already dyed a deep color, grow darker still, stained even by his tears. He appeals with a deepening love by saying that the sleeves he had dyed deeply grow darker still with crimson tears of love.
According to the headnote, he sent it to a lady-in-waiting called Taifu. Overlaying a deeply dyed color with the depth of his love, he conveys a mounting longing by saying the color deepens further with tears.
The poet, called "the Minister of the Right," is Fujiwara no Morosuke. A son of Fujiwara no Tadahira, he rose to Minister of the Right and was called Lord Kujō. He held the post of Minister of the Right when the Gosen Wakashū was compiled. His daughter Anshi became empress to Emperor Murakami.

The first line, "Iro fukaku," means "deep in color."
The second line, "someshi tamoto no," means "the sleeves I dyed," likening the depth of love to the depth of color.
The third line, "itodoshiku," means "all the more, ever more."
In the fourth line, "sae" is additive: "even by my tears."
The last line, "kosa masaru kana," means "how they grow deeper," with "kana" an exclamatory particle. It is the conceit of crimson tears darkening the color.
Author: Fujiwara no Morosuke
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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