Tōku yuku hito no tame ni wa waga sode no namida no tama mo oshikaranaku ni - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

遠く行く人のためにはわが袖の
涙の玉も惜しからなくに

Roma-ji: Tōku yuku hito no tame ni wa waga sode no namida no tama mo oshikaranaku ni
English Translation: For the sake of one
who travels far, far away,
the jewels of tears
that gather on my sleeves
are nothing I would hold back.
Meaning: For the sake of one who travels far away, I do not begrudge even the jewels of tears that gather on my sleeves.
Commentary: Book Six Parting Poems 328

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says that for the sake of one who travels far away, he does not begrudge even the jewels of tears that fall on his sleeves. Likening tears to precious jewels, he expresses a grief at parting so great that he spends them freely, and the depth of his feeling for the traveler.
The author, written as Tsurayuki, is Ki no Tsurayuki. The leading compiler of the Kokinshū, he wrote its Kana Preface and the Tosa Diary, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "tōku yuku," means "going far away."
Second line, "hito no tame ni wa," means "for the sake of that person."
Third line, "waga sode no," means "on my sleeves."
Fourth line, "namida no tama mo," likens tears to jewels, things as precious as gems. The "thread" of 330, two poems later, echoes it through the thread that strings jewels.
Final line, "oshikaranaku ni," means "I do not begrudge," with "naku" the nominalized form of the negative auxiliary "zu," breaking off to leave a lingering resonance.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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