Yū sareba akikaze suzushi tanabata no ama no hagoromo tachi ya kauramu

夕されば秋風涼したなばたの
天の羽衣たちやかふらむ

Roma-ji: Yū sareba akikaze suzushi tanabata no ama no hagoromo tachi ya kauramu
English Translation: When the evening comes,
how cool the wind of autumn—
Weaver Maid on high,
your robe of heavenly feathers,
are you cutting it anew?
Meaning: When evening comes the autumn wind is cool—is the Weaver Maid cutting out a new robe of heavenly feathers?
Commentary: Autumn Poems 195

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed at the beginning of autumn"
As evening comes and the autumn wind blows cool, the poet wonders whether the Weaver Maid too is cutting her heavenly robe anew for autumn. He lays the earthly sense of changing clothes over the Weaver Maid in heaven, imagining how she dresses as Tanabata draws near.
In the source text consulted, characters in lines 4 and 5 are missing and have been supplied from the Teika text's ama no hagoromo and tachi ya kauramu.

Line 1 shares its opening with 182, calling up an evening scene.
Line 2 pauses the poem. Whereas "how cool my sleeves" in 182 felt the first wind of autumn on the sleeves, here the coolness turns the poet's thoughts to a robe in heaven.
Line 3, tanabata, is the Weaver Maid star; she is said to weave at the loom, and through the association of cloth the line leads on to the robe.
Line 4 is the light, thin robe of heavenly beings.
Line 5, tachikau, means cutting cloth to make a new robe; ya is an interrogative binding particle concluded by the attributive of the present conjectural ramu.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
Prev Poem: Hikoboshi no yukiai o matsu hisakata no ama no kawara ni akikaze zo fuku
Next Poem: Ama no gawa kiri tachiwataru hikoboshi no tsumamukaebune haya mo koganamu