Onaji toshi chigirishi areba kimi ga kiru nori no koromo o tachiokure me ya - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

同じ年契りしあれば君が着る
法の衣をたちおくれめや

Roma-ji: Onaji toshi chigirishi areba kimi ga kiru nori no koromo o tachiokure me ya
English Translation: Since we were pledged
to be born in the same year,
the robes that you wear,
those robes of the holy Law,
how could I be slow to cut them?
Meaning: Since we were bound to be born in the same year, how could I fall behind you in cutting and donning the robes of the Law you wear?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1101

Headnote: "Reply"
This is Fujiwara no Kintō's reply to the preceding poem, 1100, and the original adds the note "he was a man of the same year," recording that the two were born in the same year. Since we were pledged to be born in the same year, how could I be slow to cut the robes of the Law you wear, he says. Being born in the same year as Michinaga was a bond from a former life, and he answers his friend's gift by saying he could never fall behind in taking the tonsure and wearing the robes. Letting "tachi" mean both cutting cloth and falling behind, he replies deftly through the imagery of the robes.
The author, "Lay Monk and Major Counselor Kintō," is Fujiwara no Kintō. A son of the regent Fujiwara no Yoritada, he rose to major counselor. Excelling in waka, Chinese verse and music alike, he compiled the Wakan Rōeishū. In his later years he took the tonsure and lived in retirement at Nagatani.
As the reply to the preceding poem, 1100, it takes up its fifth line, "nori no koromo o," in its own fourth line.

First line, "onaji toshi": "the same year," meaning they were born in the same year.
Second line, "chigirishi areba": "chigiri" is a pledge or bond from a former life, "since there was such a pledge."
Third line, "kimi ga kiru": "that you wear."
Fourth line, "nori no koromo o": "the robes of the Law," using the same phrase as "nori no koromo o" in the fifth line of the preceding poem, 1100.
Fifth line, "tachiokure me ya": "tachi" is a pivot word joining "tatsu," to cut cloth, and "tachiokuru," to fall behind; "me" is the realis of the conjectural "mu" and "ya" rhetorical, "how could I fall behind? I could not."
Author: Fujiwara no Kintō
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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