Karakoromo kaeshite wa neshi natsu no yo wa yume ni mo akade hito wakarekeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

唐衣返してはねし夏の夜は
夢にも飽かで人別れけり

Roma-ji: Karakoromo kaeshite wa neshi natsu no yo wa yume ni mo akade hito wakarekeri
English Translation: My Cathay robe turned,
inside out I lay and slept,
but the summer night—
even in dream, not yet content,
I saw her part from me
Meaning: On the summer night I slept with my robe turned inside out, even in my dream, before I had seen enough of her, she parted from me.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 895

Headnote: "On the topic 'love on a summer night'"
This poem was composed on the topic "love on a summer night." On the summer night I slept with my robe turned inside out, he says, even in my dream she parted from me before I had my fill. He went to sleep following the belief that turning one's night robe inside out brings a dream of the beloved, but the summer night was short, and even in the dream they parted before he could meet her to his heart's content, linking the shortness of the topic's "summer night" with the fleetingness of a meeting in a dream.
The author, "Shun'e Hōshi," was the son of Minamoto no Toshiyori. He became a monk of Tōdaiji, named his residence at Shirakawa the Karin'en, gathered many poets there and held poetry gatherings and contests.
The conceit of turning one's robe inside out to sleep appears in Ono no Komachi's poem in the Kokin Wakashū, "Ito semete koishiki toki wa mubatama no yoru no koromo o kaeshite zo kiru," and this poem draws on it.
Together with 876, 898 and 899 in this book, it is a poem singing of a meeting in a dream.

First line, "karakoromo": a term of praise for a robe, a pillow word leading to "kaesu," "to turn," "kiru," "to wear," and the like.
Second line, "kaeshite wa neshi": "kaesu" is to turn a robe inside out, a charm for seeing the beloved in a dream. "Shi" is the attributive of the past "ki," "on which I slept with it turned."
Third line, "natsu no yo wa": it answers "summer night" in the topic and hints at the shortness of the night.
Fourth line, "yume ni mo akade": "akade" means "without being satisfied," with "de" a negative conjunctive particle, "without meeting her to my heart's content even in a dream."
Fifth line, "hito wakarekeri": "hito" is the beloved, and "keri" is exclamatory. It closes by showing that the short summer night has dawned and the meeting in the dream is over.
Author: Shun'e
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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