Ko no ha nomi chiru ka to omoishi shigure ni wa namida mo taenu mono ni zo arikeru - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

木の葉のみ散るかと思ひし時雨には
涙も堪へぬものにぞありける

Roma-ji: Ko no ha nomi chiru ka to omoishi shigure ni wa namida mo taenu mono ni zo arikeru
English Translation: I had thought it was
only leaves that would scatter
in the winter showers,
yet in them my own tears too
are things I cannot hold back
Meaning: I had thought only leaves fell in the winter showers, but in them I find my tears too will not be held back.
Commentary: Book Six Winter Poems 412

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on winter showers when a hundred-poem sequence was presented in the reign of Emperor Horikawa"
Composed on the topic of winter showers for the Horikawa Hyakushu. He had thought only leaves fell in the showers, the poet says, but tears too cannot be held back in them. Overlaying the leaves scattered by the showers with his own tears, he expresses surprise at realizing the sorrow that winter showers bring.
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.
The three poems from 411 to 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, "ko no ha nomi": "nomi" limits, "only the leaves." Following 404 and 405 of this book, it links showers and leaves.
Second line, "chiru ka to omoishi": "shi," the attributive of the past "ki," gives what he had thought before.
Third line, "shigure ni wa": "in the showers, at the time of showers."
Fourth line, "namida mo taenu": "tau" is to endure, and "nu" is negative, "tears too cannot be held back," falling just as the leaves do.
Fifth line, "mono ni zo arikeru": the emphatic "zo" closes with the attributive "keru," "keri" expressing realization, "so that is how it is."
Author: Minamoto no Toshiyori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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