Ashi no ya no shizuhata obi no katamusubi kokoro yasuku mo uchitokuru kana - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

蘆の屋の倭文機帯の片結び
心やすくもうちとくるかな

Roma-ji: Ashi no ya no shizuhata obi no katamusubi kokoro yasuku mo uchitokuru kana
English Translation: In a hut of reeds
a sash of homespun weaving
tied in a loose knot—
so easily and gently
you have loosened, opened to me
Meaning: Like the loosely knotted homespun sash of one who lives in a reed-thatched hut, which comes undone so easily, you have opened your heart to me with such ease.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1164

Headnote: "On the topic of love at the first meeting."
This is the second poem of the sequence on the feelings that follow a first meeting. As the loosely knotted homespun sash of one living in a reed hut comes undone easily, so the beloved has readily opened her heart, and the poet rejoices. According to the headnote, it was composed on the set topic of love at the first meeting.
The author, "Toshiyori Ason," is Minamoto no Toshiyori. A son of the Major Counselor Minamoto no Tsunenobu, he compiled the Kin'yōshū at the command of Retired Emperor Shirakawa and wrote the poetic treatise Toshiyori Zuinō.

The first line, "ashi no ya no," means "of a reed-thatched hut." Like Mount Ōsaka in the preceding poem, it opens with an image from the land and forms part of a preface leading downward.
The second line, "shizuhata obi no," means "of a sash woven on a shizu loom." Shizu was an ancient woven cloth, a word suggesting simple attire.
The third line, "katamusubi," is a knot looped on one side only, which comes undone easily. The upper three lines form a preface, leading through this looseness into the fourth line and beyond.
The fourth line, "kokoro yasuku mo," means "so easily, so gently." The ease with which the loose knot comes undone overlaps with the ease with which the beloved gives her heart.
In the last line, "uchitokuru kana," "uchitokuru" is a pivot word meaning both "a sash comes untied" and "a heart opens." The joy that the woman has given her heart at the first meeting is entrusted to the image of a loosening sash. Where the preceding poem sang of sorrow that grows after meeting, this one brightly sings the joy of a first meeting, and the two poems form a contrast.
Author: Minamoto no Toshiyori
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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