Mabara naru shiba no iori ni tabine shite shigure ni nururu sayogoromo kana - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

まばらなる柴の庵に旅寝して
時雨に濡るるさ夜衣かな

Roma-ji: Mabara naru shiba no iori ni tabine shite shigure ni nururu sayogoromo kana
English Translation: In a brushwood hut
where the gaps let in the sky,
sleeping on a journey,
wet with winter showers,
my robe of the night
Meaning: Sleeping on my journey in a brushwood hut full of gaps, I find my night robe wet with the winter showers.
Commentary: Book Six Winter Poems 579

Headnote: "On the topic 'Winter Showers at a Traveler's Lodging,' at the Toba Palace."
This is the tenth poem of the winter-showers sequence. Sleeping on a journey in a brushwood hut full of gaps, the speaker finds his night robe wet with showers. According to the headnote, it was composed at the Toba Palace on the topic "Winter Showers at a Traveler's Lodging."
The author, given as "a poem by Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa," is Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa. A son of Emperor Toba, he governed as retired emperor after abdicating, and, fond of imayō songs, compiled the Ryōjin Hishō.
The scene is a night of winter showers; the place, as set by the topic, is a brushwood hut on a journey, while the poem was actually composed at the Toba Palace.
The direct occasion is the topic "Winter Showers at a Traveler's Lodging" at the Toba Palace. The Toba Palace was a detached palace built by Retired Emperor Shirakawa at Toba, south of the capital.

The first line, "mabara naru," means "full of gaps." In 568 of this book the oak leaves "have grown sparse," but here the word refers to the gaps in the hut, foreshadowing the showers that will leak in.
The second line, "shiba no iori ni," refers to a humble temporary dwelling enclosed with brushwood. Following the "brushwood door" of 572 and 573 in this book, the brushwood dwelling is again sung as the setting for winter showers.
The third line, "tabine shite," means "sleeping on a journey," indicating the "traveler's lodging" of the topic.
The fourth line, "shigure ni nururu," means "wet with winter showers," indicating the "winter showers" of the topic. Through the showers leaking into the gap-ridden hut, the desolation of travel is conveyed.
The last line, "sayogoromo kana," means "ah, my robe of the night," closing with the exclamatory particle "kana." The "sa" of "sayo" is a prefix that smooths the rhythm. Composed at a detached palace on the desolation of sleeping on a journey as its topic, the poem follows the tears of old age in the preceding poem by presenting a robe as what the showers wet.
Author: Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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