Sumizome no iro wa ware nomi to omoishi o ukiyo o somuku hito mo aru to ka - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

墨染の色は我のみと思ひしを
憂き世を背く人もあるとか

Roma-ji: Sumizome no iro wa ware nomi to omoishi o ukiyo o somuku hito mo aru to ka
English Translation: This color of black ink,
I had thought that only I
was one to wear it,
yet I hear there's someone too
who has turned from this sad world.
Meaning: I thought I was the only one wearing this ink-black color, yet I hear there is someone else who has turned her back on this sorrowful world.
Commentary: Book Twenty Lament Poems 1333

Headnote: "Sent when, while he was in mourning, he heard that a woman he had known had become a nun"
The poet says he had thought he alone wore the ink-black color, but hears that there is someone who has turned from the sorrowful world. The headnote shows it was sent when, while in mourning, he heard that a woman he had known well had become a nun. Laying the ink-black of mourning over the ink-black robe of a nun, he puts surprise and deep feeling into their having come to wear the same black. The next poem, 1334, is the woman's reply.
The author, written as "Yoshinobu," is Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu. A son of Ōnakatomi no Yorimoto, chief priest of the Ise Shrine, he took part in compiling the Gosenshū as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets and is known for his poem "mikakimori" in the Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, "sumizome no," means "of ink-dyed black," the poet's mourning dress. It shares this word with the first line of the next poem, 1334.
Second line, "iro wa ware nomi to," means "that the color was mine alone," a hypermetric line of six syllables.
Third line, "omoishi o," means "though I had thought," with "o" a concessive particle.
Fourth line, "ukiyo o somuku," means "turning from the sorrowful world" to take vows, speaking of the woman who became a nun. It shares turning from the world with the first and second lines of 1330 in this book, "ukiyo o ba somukaba."
Final line, "hito mo aru to ka," means "there is someone, I hear," with "to ka" expressing hearsay.
Author: Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Source: Shui Wakashu
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