Ōzora o nagame zo kurasu fuku kaze no oto wa suredomo me ni mo mieneba - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

大空を眺めぞ暮らす吹く風の
音はすれども目にも見えねば

Roma-ji: Ōzora o nagame zo kurasu fuku kaze no oto wa suredomo me ni mo mieneba
English Translation: At the wide heavens
I spend the whole day gazing,
for the blowing wind,
though I can hear its sound,
cannot be seen by the eye.
Meaning: I spend the whole day gazing at the wide sky, for though I hear the sound of the blowing wind, it cannot be seen with the eye.
Commentary: Book Eight Miscellaneous Poems I 450

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says that because the blowing wind can be heard but not seen, he spends the whole day gazing at the sky. As though searching the sky for a wind that has only sound and no form, he expresses a heart passing the day lost in thought. Following the preceding poem, 449, in which the name of a vanished waterfall is still heard, this poem too sings of something heard but not seen. From here the poems turn to wind, leading into the poems on wind in the pines from the next poem, 451.
The author, written as Mitsune, is Ōshikōchi no Mitsune. One of the compilers of the Kokinshū, he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
Fujiwara no Toshiyuki's poem in the Kokinshū, which says autumn's coming is not clearly seen yet startles him in the sound of the wind, is also known for catching the invisible wind through its sound.

First line, "ōzora o," means "at the wide sky."
Second line, "nagame zo kurasu," means "I pass the day gazing in thought," resolving "zo" with the attributive "kurasu." The poem breaks here and is inverted with the lower verse.
Third line, "fuku kaze no," means "of the blowing wind."
Fourth line, "oto wa suredomo," means "though there is a sound," with "domo" a concessive particle.
Final line, "me ni mo mieneba," means "since it cannot be seen by the eye," with "ne" the perfective form of the negative auxiliary "zu" and "ba" expressing a reason. Through inversion it gives afterward the reason for spending the day gazing.
Author: Oshikochi no Mitsune
Source: Shui Wakashu
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