Yūhi sasu asaji ga hara no tabibito wa aware izuku ni yado o karuran - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

夕日さす浅茅が原の旅人は
あはれいづくに宿を借るらん

Roma-ji: Yūhi sasu asaji ga hara no tabibito wa aware izuku ni yado o karuran
English Translation: In the evening sun
crossing the plain of low reeds,
that traveler there—
ah, where will he find tonight
a lodging for his rest?
Meaning: That traveler crossing the plain of low reeds in the evening sun: ah, where will he find lodging for the night?
Commentary: Book Ten Travel Poems 951

Headnote: "On the topic 'Watching a traveler at dusk.'"
This is the second of a sequence of poems on the road at nightfall and lodging for the night. The speaker wonders with sympathy where the traveler crossing the plain of low reeds in the evening sun will find lodging, watching a traveler on the plain at dusk. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Watching a traveler at dusk."
The author, "Major Counselor Tsunenobu," is Minamoto no Tsunenobu. A noble of the late Heian period, he rose to Senior Second Rank and Major Counselor and was called the Katsura Major Counselor.
The scene is dusk, on a plain overgrown with low reeds.
The direct occasion is composing on the topic "Watching a traveler at dusk." The topic means looking out at a traveler on the road at evening.
The headnote of the text carries a note supplying "bō," "to watch," after "bo," "dusk," and the topic is given accordingly. The last line carries a note giving "ka" for "to," which agrees with "karuramu" in the reading line, so "karuran" is adopted.

The first line, "yūhi sasu," means "where the evening sun shines." It gives the hour as the day draws to a close.
The second line, "asaji ga hara no," means "on the plain of low reeds." It shows a desolate plain with no houses.
The third line, "tabibito wa," means "the traveler." It shows a traveler seen by the viewer. Like 928, it is a poem from the side of one watching a traveler.
The fourth line, "aware izuku ni," means "ah, where?" "Aware" is an interjection, asking with sympathy for the traveler.
The last line, "yado o karuran," means "will he find lodging?" "Ran" conjectures about what is out of sight. Where the preceding poem sings of the traveler's own heart as night falls on the mountain road, this poem thinks of a traveler on the plain at dusk from the side of one watching, reversing the positions of traveler and viewer. Where "yado ya karamashi" in 905 is the traveler's own hesitation, here the viewer worries over the traveler's lodging.
Author: Minamoto no Tsunenobu
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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