Kaku bakari aware naraji o shiguru tomo iso no matsugane makura narazu wa - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

かくばかりあはれならじを時雨るとも
磯の松が根枕ならずは

Roma-ji: Kaku bakari aware naraji o shiguru tomo iso no matsugane makura narazu wa
English Translation: It would not be
so moving as this, even
when the showers fall,
were not the roots of the pines
on the shore my pillow tonight
Meaning: Even with the passing showers, it would not move me so deeply as this, were I not pillowed on the roots of a pine by the shore.
Commentary: Book Eight Travel Poems 520

Headnote: "Composed on the theme of winter showers by a lake"
Composed on the topic "winter showers by a lake." Even when the showers fall, it would not be this moving, were I not pillowed on the roots of the pines on the shore, the poet says. It is precisely because he sleeps on the road with pine roots for a pillow by the lake that the sound of the showers pierces him so, and the poem conveys that loneliness.
The author, "Anonymous," is a poet whose name has not come down to us.

First line, "kaku bakari": "to this extent." Poem 541 of this book also opens with "kaku bakari."
Second line, "aware naraji o": "ji" is the negative conjectural and "o" adversative, "it would not be so moving, and yet." The poem pauses here.
Third line, "shiguru tomo": "shiguru" means winter showers fall, and "tomo" is a concessive condition.
Fourth line, "iso no matsugane": "iso" here is the shore of the lake. Pine roots as a pillow for a night on the road also appear in 510 and 525 of this book.
Fifth line, "makura narazu wa": "zu wa" is a negative condition, "were they not my pillow," inverted with the second line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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