Yo to tomo ni sode no kawakanu waga koi ya Toshima ga iso ni yosuru shiranami - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

世とともに袖のかわかぬ我が恋や
としまが磯に寄する白波

Roma-ji: Yo to tomo ni sode no kawakanu waga koi ya Toshima ga iso ni yosuru shiranami
English Translation: All my life long
my sleeves have never dried—
this love of mine,
is it the white waves that break
upon the shore of Toshima
Meaning: Is this love of mine, which never lets my sleeves dry all my life long, like the white waves forever breaking on the rocky shore of Toshima?
Commentary: Book Eight Love Poems II 426

The poet likens his love, which never gives his tear-soaked sleeves a moment to dry, to the white waves that break without pause upon the shore of Toshima. He compares his sleeves that are never dry to the waves that keep the rocks forever wet.
Like poems 422 and 429 in this book, it entrusts love to the scenery of a famous place.
The author, Nakazane, is Fujiwara no Nakazane. A son of Fujiwara no Yoshinari, he served as Governor of Echizen among other posts and was one of the poets of the Horikawa Hundred-Poem Sequences.

First line, 'yo to tomo ni', means always, without end.
Second line, 'sode no kawakanu', means my sleeves never dry, that is, stay wet with tears.
Third line, 'waga koi ya', means this love of mine, the particle ya expressing a question tinged with feeling.
Fourth line, 'Toshima ga iso ni', names Toshima ga iso, a shore that seems to be a famous place in poetry, though its location is unclear.
Final line, 'yosuru shiranami', means the white waves that break, closing on a noun and likening my love in the third line to the white waves. The waves are tied to the wet sleeves of the second line.
Author: Fujiwara no Nakazane
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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