いつしかと袖に時雨のそそくかな
思ひは冬の初めならねど
思ひは冬の初めならねど
- Roma-ji
-
Itsushika to sode ni shigure no sosoku kana omoi wa fuyu no hajime naranedo
- English Translation
-
How soon upon my
sleeves the winter showers come
pouring down like this,
though the season of my love
is not the start of winter
- Meaning
- How soon the showers have come pouring onto my sleeves, though my love has not yet reached the season of early winter when such showers fall.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Love Poems I 692
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
How soon the showers pour on my sleeves, he says, though my love is not at the beginning of winter. Early winter was thought to be the season of such showers, yet though his love has not reached that season, the showers of tears already pour onto his sleeves, he says, expressing the intensity of the tears of love.
The author, "Kamo no Shigenobu," was a priest of the Kamo Shrine. Little is known of his life.
Following 690 and 691, it sings of the tears of love in terms of showers. Poem 658 of this book also overlays the rain and tears that wet the sleeves.
First line, "itsushika to": "so soon."
Second line, "sode ni shigure no": "showers on my sleeves," the showers being a figure for tears. Like "namida shigure to" in the second line of 690, it likens tears to showers.
Third line, "sosoku kana": "sosoku" means to pour down, and "kana" is an exclamatory final particle. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "omoi wa fuyu no": "omoi" is the longing of love.
Fifth line, "hajime naranedo": "ne" is the perfective of the negative "zu," and with "do" it becomes adversative, "though it is not the beginning of winter." Calling up early winter, the season of showers, it sets off how soon the tears have come.
- Author
- Kamo no Shigenobu
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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