Yamagatsu no asa no sagoromo osa o arami awade tsukihi ya sugi fukeru io - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

山賤の麻のさ衣筬を荒み
あはで月日やすぎ葺ける庵

Roma-ji: Yamagatsu no asa no sagoromo osa o arami awade tsukihi ya sugi fukeru io
English Translation: The mountain woodsman's
hempen robe is coarsely woven,
its threads never meet;
so without meeting, have the months
gone by in this cedar hut?
Meaning: The hempen robe of a mountain woodsman is coarsely reeded, so its threads never meet; have the months and days slipped by like that, without our meeting, in this hut roofed with cedar?
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 1108

Headnote: "At the Minase Love Poem Contest in Fifteen Rounds."
This is the first of two poems on a love in which the months go by without meeting and without speaking. As the threads of a woodsman's hempen robe fail to meet because the reed is coarse, the speaker wonders whether the months have slipped by without meeting in a cedar-roofed hut. According to the headnote, it was composed for the Minase Love Poem Contest in Fifteen Rounds.
The author, "Regent and Grand Chancellor," is Fujiwara no Yoshitsune. The son of Regent Kujō Kanezane, he rose to regent and grand chancellor and wrote the kana preface to the Shin Kokinshū.
The Minase Love Poem Contest in Fifteen Rounds was held by Retired Emperor Go-Toba in Kennin 2 (1202).

The first line, "yamagatsu no," means "of the mountain woodsman," a humble person living by felling trees in the hills.
The second line, "asa no sagoromo," is a rough robe woven of hemp, with "sa" a prefix that smooths the rhythm.
The third line, "osa o arami," means "because the reed is coarse," the pattern "o ... mi" marking a cause. Because a coarse reed leaves the weave ill-matched, the lines up to here form a preface leading to "awade" in the fourth line.
In the fourth line, "awade tsukihi ya," "awade" holds both "awade," the threads not meeting, and "awade," not meeting one's beloved. The particle "ya" marks a question: have the months gone by? The next poem also says "iwade tsukihi wa," so two poems of the same construction are set side by side.
In the last line, "sugi fukeru io," "sugi" holds both "sugi," the months passing, and "sugi," the cedar that roofs the hut. The question of whether the months have passed turns straight into the scene of a cedar-roofed hut, and the poem ends on a noun.
Author: Fujiwara no Yoshitsune
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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