Natsugoromo tachiwakaru beki koyoi koso hitoe ni oshiki omoi soinure - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

夏衣たち別るべき今宵こそ
ひとへに惜しき思ひ添ひぬれ

Roma-ji: Natsugoromo tachiwakaru beki koyoi koso hitoe ni oshiki omoi soinure
English Translation: As a summer robe
is cut, so you set out and part,
and on this night
a single-layered sorrow
of farewell comes over me.
Meaning: On this night when you must set out and leave us, as a summer robe is cut, a feeling of pure regret is added to my heart.
Commentary: Book Six Parting Poems 305

Headnote: "In the Tenryaku era, when Myōbu Shōni was going down to Buzen, at the farewell banquet held in the Daibandokoro, on bestowing a gift of clothing"
Playing on the cutting of a summer robe, the emperor says that on this night of parting, a feeling of pure regret grows within him. Layering words associated with the gift of clothing, the poem expresses his sorrow at parting with a lady who had served him. According to the headnote, it was composed in the Tenryaku era of Emperor Murakami, when Myōbu Shōni was going down to the province of Buzen and a farewell banquet was held in the Daibandokoro, as he bestowed a robe upon her. The headnote in the source text has a different character for "era," which is taken here as an error for "in the Tenryaku era."
The author, written as "imperial composition," is Emperor Murakami. A son of Emperor Daigo, his reign was praised as the Tenryaku rule. He established a poetry bureau in the Pear Chamber and ordered the compilation of the Gosenshū.

First line, "natsugoromo," is the light robe worn in summer, leading through its associations with cutting and single layers to the second and fourth lines. Following the spring partings from 301 at the head of the book, the season here moves to summer.
Second line, "tachiwakaru beki," lays on "tachi" both the cutting of cloth and the setting out on a journey. "Tatsu yori sode no" in 321 of this book also overlays cutting cloth and departing, so the two answer each other as poems of parting with a gift of clothing.
Third line, "koyoi koso," means "this very night," emphasized by the particle "koso."
Fourth line, "hitoe ni oshiki," plays on "hitoe" as the unlined summer robe and as "wholly, purely."
Final line, "omoi soinure," means "the feeling has been added," with "nure" the perfective form of the perfective auxiliary "nu," resolving "koso." "Sou" (to be added) is also an associated word for clothing.
Author: Emperor Murakami
Source: Shui Wakashu
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