Aki no yo wa matsu o harawanu kaze dani mo kanashiki koto no ne o tatezu ya wa - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋の夜は松を払はぬ風だにも
悲しきことの音を立てずやは

Roma-ji: Aki no yo wa matsu o harawanu kaze dani mo kanashiki koto no ne o tatezu ya wa
English Translation: On autumn nights
even the wind that does not
sweep the pine boughs,
would it fail to raise a note
as sorrowful as the koto?
Meaning: On an autumn night, even a breeze too faint to stir the pine boughs cannot help but sound a note as sorrowful as the koto.
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems II 304

Headnote: "Composed as an autumn poem when a hundred-poem sequence was presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku"
An autumn poem composed for a hundred-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku. On an autumn night, the poet says, even a faint wind that does not stir the pine branches makes a sound as sad as the koto. Choosing not a strong wind but a faint one, he expresses the sorrow of the season itself, in which every sound on an autumn night rings sad.
The author, "Fujiwara no Suemichi Ason," was the son of Provisional Major Counselor Fujiwara no Munemichi. Known as a master of the biwa and the koto, he was one of the authors of Sutoku's hundred-poem sequence, known as the Kyūan Hyakushu.
Likening the wind in the pines to the music of the koto is an old conceit, seen in the Shūi Wakashū poem by the Consort of the Ise Priestess, "the pine wind on the peak seems to pass into the koto's music." It is a fitting conceit for an author versed in music.

First line, "aki no yo wa": setting the time and scene of the poem. 309 of this book opens with the same line on a deer in the autumn night.
Second line, "matsu o harawanu": "harau" is to sweep by blowing, and the negative "nu" says the wind is not strong enough to sweep the pine branches, stressing its faintness.
Third line, "kaze dani mo": "dani" means "even," naming a faint wind so that something stronger may be inferred.
Fourth line, "kanashiki koto no": "koto" is a pivot word meaning both the koto, a stringed instrument, and "thing." The pine wind and the koto are associated words.
Fifth line, "ne o tatezu ya wa": "ya wa" is rhetorical, "would it not make a sound? It surely would," asserting the point strongly.
Author: Fujiwara no Suemichi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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