Miyamabe no shigurete wataru kazu goto ni kakotogamashiki tamakashiwa kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

深山辺の時雨れて渡る数ごとに
かことがましき玉柏かな

Roma-ji: Miyamabe no shigurete wataru kazu goto ni kakotogamashiki tamakashiwa kana
English Translation: Each time the showers
cross over and pass along
the deep mountainside,
how they seem to murmur complaints,
the jeweled leaves of the oak
Meaning: Each time the showers pass over the deep mountains, the leaves of the oak rustle as if voicing their grievances.
Commentary: Book Six Winter Poems 411

Headnote: "Composed on winter showers when a hundred-poem sequence was presented in the reign of Emperor Horikawa"
Composed on winter showers when a hundred-poem sequence was presented in the reign of Emperor Horikawa. Each time the showers pass over the deep mountains, the poet says, the oak leaves rustle as if voicing complaints. He hears the sound of the oak leaves struck by the showers as a voice pleading some grievance.
The author, "Middle Counselor Kuninobu," is Minamoto no Kuninobu, son of Minister of the Right Minamoto no Akifusa, who rose to Provisional Middle Counselor. He was one of the authors of the Horikawa Hyakushu.
This poem and the two that follow, through 413, are poems on winter showers from the Horikawa Hyakushu. In the Horikawa Hyakushu, poets such as Minamoto no Toshiyori and Fujiwara no Kinzane each composed a hundred poems on shared topics in Horikawa's reign, and it became the model for later hundred-poem sequences.

First line, "miyamabe no": "of the deep mountains." 418 and 447 of this book also sing of "miyamabe."
Second line, "shigurete wataru": "the showers crossing as they fall," continuing the moving showers of "newatashi" in the preceding poem, 410.
Third line, "kazu goto ni": "each time," showing that the showers pass over again and again.
Fourth line, "kakotogamashiki": "kakotogamashi" means seeming to complain or make excuses, personifying the sound of the oak leaves as a human voice.
Fifth line, "tamakashiwa kana": "tamakashiwa" is an elegant word for the oak, and "kana" is exclamatory.
Author: Minamoto no Kunizane
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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