Matsuyama ni tsuraki nagara mo nami kosamu koto wa sasuga ni kanashiki mono o - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

松山につらきながらも波越さむ
ことはさすがに悲しきものを

Roma-ji: Matsuyama ni tsuraki nagara mo nami kosamu koto wa sasuga ni kanashiki mono o
English Translation: That waves should cross
the pine-clad hill, though I find it
cruel, I know,
is still, for all of that,
a thing of sorrow
Meaning: That you should change your heart, as waves might cross the Pine Hill of Sue, is hateful to me, and yet it is still a thing of sorrow.
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems III 755

Headnote: "In reply to a woman to whom he had been writing, who, hearing that he was writing to another as well, sent word that he should now give up all thought of her."
The poet says that waves crossing the Pine Hill, a change of heart, is still sorrowful, though it is cruel. To the woman who told him to give her up, he voices a sorrow he cannot cut off.
According to the headnote, the woman he had been writing to heard he was writing to another woman too and sent word that he should forget her, and this was his reply. Drawing on the Kokin Wakashū eastern song "kimi o okite adashi gokoro o waga motaba sue no matsuyama nami mo koenamu," it takes waves crossing the Pine Hill of Sue as a figure for a change of heart. Waves crossing the Pine Hill also appear in 759, 760, and 783 in this book.
The poet, called "the Posthumous Chancellor," was Fujiwara no Tokihira. The eldest son of Regent Fujiwara no Mototsune, he rose to Minister of the Left and was posthumously named Chancellor. He is known for having Sugawara no Michizane banished to Dazaifu.

The first line, "Matsuyama ni," means "over the Pine Hill of Sue," a poetic place in Mutsu.
The second line, "tsuraki nagara mo," means "though it is cruel."
The third line, "nami kosamu," means "that waves should cross," figuring a change of heart. The third line of 759 in this book is also "nami kosamu," sharing the same line.
The fourth line, "koto wa sasuga ni," means "that, after all."
The last line, "kanashiki mono o," means "is sorrowful," with "mono o" an exclamation carrying an adversative sense.
Author: Fujiwara no Tokihira
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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