Shigure nomi Furu no kamisugi furinuredo ika ni semu to ka iro no tsurenaki

時雨のみふるの神杉古りぬれど
いかにせむとか色のつれなき

Roma-ji: Shigure nomi Furu no kamisugi furinuredo ika ni semu to ka iro no tsurenaki
English Translation: Only cold showers
fall on the sacred cedars
of Furu, grown old;
what would you have me do?
Your color stays unmoved.
Meaning: Only cold showers fall on the sacred cedars of Furu, now grown old; what am I to do, when your color never changes and you remain so cold?
Commentary: Love Poems 556

Headnote: "Sent to someone around the tenth month"
The sacred cedars of Furu, where only cold showers fall, have grown old, yet like cedars that do not change color in the rain, the beloved remains unmoved; what is the poet to do? It was sent to the beloved in the tenth month.
The base text glosses line 4 with seyo to ka, and the Ruijū and Teika texts read line 4 as ika ni seyo to ka. Here the base text is followed.

Line 1 means "only cold showers," a scene of the tenth month.
Line 2 plays on furu, showers falling and the place name Furu in Yamato, naming the sacred cedars of the Isonokami shrine.
Line 3 means "though they have grown old," echoing furu in line 2; the same conceit as in 455.
Line 4 means "what would you have me do?"
Line 5 means "your color is unmoved," overlaying cedars unchanged by rain with an unmoved beloved.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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