Izure o ka ame to mo wakamu yamabushi no otsuru namida mo furi ni koso fure - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いづれをか雨とも分かむ山伏の
落つる涙も降りにこそ降れ

Roma-ji: Izure o ka ame to mo wakamu yamabushi no otsuru namida mo furi ni koso fure
English Translation: Which of them, then,
could one tell apart as rain?
The mountain monk's
falling tears as well
are pouring, pouring down
Meaning: Which of these could anyone tell apart as rain? The tears the mountain monk lets fall are pouring down and down as well.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems II 1133

Headnote: "When Kaisen was in retreat at a mountain temple deep in the hills, another monk came to visit and was shut in by the rain."
The poet asks which could be told apart as rain, for the mountain monk's falling tears are pouring down too. Saying that the rain shutting in the deep mountain temple cannot be told from the tears of one secluded in the hills, the poem overlays the loneliness of mountain life with tears shed in talk with a visitor.
According to the headnote, when Kaisen was in retreat at a deep mountain temple, another monk came to visit and they were shut in by the rain. Whether the poem is by Kaisen or by the visiting monk is unclear.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Izure o ka," means "which," with "ka" an interrogative binding particle closed by the attributive "mu" in the second line.
The second line, "ame to mo wakamu," means "could one tell as rain," with a rhetorical sense. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "yamabushi no," means "of the mountain monk," a priest who practices secluded in the hills.
The fourth line, "otsuru namida mo," means "the falling tears too," with "mo" setting the tears alongside the rain.
The last line, "furi ni koso fure," means "are pouring and pouring," doubling the same verb for emphasis. "Koso" is an emphatic binding particle closed by the perfective form "fure."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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