Kusamakura yūkaze samuku nari ni keri koromo utsu naru yado ya karamashi

English Translation

Pillowed on the grass,
I feel the evening wind
has turned cold at last;
where I hear them beating cloth,
should I ask there for lodging?

Meaning

On my journey, the evening wind has grown cold. Shall I ask for lodging at that house where I hear someone beating cloth?

Commentary

Book Ten Travel Poems 905

Headnote: none recorded.
This is the first of a sequence of travel poems by poets of the Heian period. As the evening wind grows cold on the road, the speaker wonders whether to ask for lodging at a house where cloth is being beaten, conveying the loneliness of a traveler at dusk. The text has no headnote, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, Ki no Tsurayuki, was a poet of the early Heian period. He was one of the compilers of the Kokin Wakashū, wrote its kana preface, and was the author of the Tosa Diary.
The scene is an autumn evening on a journey, near a village where the sound of fulling blocks can be heard.
The direct occasion is not recorded.

The first line, "kusamakura," is a pillow word for "journey," but here it stands alone for the traveler's condition.
The second line, "yūkaze samuku," means "the evening wind, cold." It gives both the hour of dusk on the road and a chill that pierces the body.
The third line, "nari ni keri," means "has turned so." "Keri" expresses a moment of realization, and the poem breaks after this third line.
The fourth line, "koromo utsu naru," means "where I hear cloth being beaten." "Naru," the attributive form of "nari," infers from sound; unseen, the house is known by the sound of the fulling block. Fulling, beating cloth with a mallet to soften and gloss it, was sung of as a sight of lonely autumn nights. After the traveler in 902 who cannot dry a wet "koromo," the journey is again linked with a robe.
The last line, "yado ya karamashi," means "should I ask for lodging?" "Mashi" expresses hesitant intention, and with the particle "ya" it shows a mind at a loss. The traveler's loneliness shows in how his heart turns toward signs of human life.

Author

Ki no Tsurayuki

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other