Ōkata no tsuyu ni wa nani no naru naran tamoto ni oku wa namida narikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

おほかたの露には何のなるならむ
袂に置くは涙なりけり

Roma-ji: Ōkata no tsuyu ni wa nani no naru naran tamoto ni oku wa namida narikeri
English Translation: The common dew,
I wonder what it is
that it becomes;
the drops that settle on my sleeves,
I find, are only tears
Meaning: What, I wonder, is it that becomes the ordinary dew? The dew that settles on my sleeves, I find, is my own tears.
Commentary: Book Four Autumn Poems I 267

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poet asks what it is that becomes the dew that settles everywhere in the world, for the dew on his own sleeves is surely his tears. Expressing in reverse the traditional likening of dew on the sleeves to tears, by asking what the other dew might be, he shows frankly how many tears he sheds in autumn brooding.
The author, "the monk En'i," is Saigyō. His lay name was Satō Norikiyo; once a warrior of the North Guard of Retired Emperor Toba, he took holy orders at twenty-three. He traveled through many provinces composing poems and also used the name En'i.
Following 264 and 266 of this book, it speaks of dew on sleeves and closes the series of dew poems. Poem 299 of this book also opens with "ōkata no," contrasting the autumn of the world at large with one's own.

First line, "ōkata no": "common, of the world at large," set against the dew "on my sleeves" in the lines that follow. Poem 299 of this book opens with the same line.
Second line, "tsuyu ni wa nani no": "what is it that, in the dew," asking what the dew really is.
Third line, "naru naran": "naru" is the attributive of the verb "to become" and "naran" the copula with conjectural "mu": "what is it that becomes it?" The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "tamoto ni oku wa": "the dew that settles on my sleeves," sharing sleeves with "tamoto ni kakaru" in 264 and "tamoto yori koso" in 266 of this book.
Fifth line, "namida narikeri": "keri" expresses realization, flatly declaring that the dew on the sleeves was tears and closing the dew poems.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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