Akikaze ya namida moyoosu tsuma naran otozureshi yori sode no kawakanu - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋風や涙もよほすつまならむ
おとづれしより袖の乾かぬ

Roma-ji: Akikaze ya namida moyoosu tsuma naran otozureshi yori sode no kawakanu
English Translation: Is the autumn wind
the very spring from which
my tears are drawn?
Since the day it came to call
my sleeves have never dried
Meaning: Could the autumn wind be what draws out my tears? Ever since it came calling, my sleeves have never been dry.
Commentary: Book Four Autumn Poems I 234

Headnote: "Composed on the feeling of the beginning of autumn"
Composed on the feeling of "the beginning of autumn." The poet wonders whether the autumn wind is what sets his tears flowing, for ever since it came calling with its sound, his sleeves have never dried. Linking the coming of the autumn wind and the tears on his sleeves as cause and effect, the poem expresses an endless sorrow that begins with autumn's arrival.
The author, "Minamoto no Toshiyori Ason," was the son of Major Counselor Minamoto no Tsunenobu. The central poet of Emperor Horikawa's poetry circle, he compiled the Kin'yō Wakashū at the command of Retired Emperor Shirakawa and wrote the treatise Toshiyori Zuinō. A poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Following 231 of this book, with tears scattered by the autumn wind, this poem again joins the autumn wind and tears. Poem 249, "ojika no tsuma naran / hana sakishi yori koe no iro naru," likewise surmises with "tsuma naran" and marks the start of a change with "since," taking the same shape as this poem.

First line, "akikaze ya": the interrogative "ya" links with "ramu" in the third line.
Second line, "namida moyoosu": "moyoosu" means to draw out or provoke; the autumn wind calls forth tears.
Third line, "tsuma naran": "tsuma" is a beginning or cause, and "ramu" closes with "ya": "could it be the cause?" The poem pauses here. Poem 249 of this book uses the same "tsuma naran."
Fourth line, "otozureshi yori": "otozuru" means to visit and carries the echo of the wind's "oto," its sound; "shi" is the attributive past: "since it came calling."
Fifth line, "sode no kawakanu": "my sleeves do not dry," ending on the attributive form to leave a lingering note. Like "chiru namida" in 231 of this book, it speaks of tears called forth by the autumn wind.
Author: Minamoto no Toshiyori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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