Katami tote hono fumiwakeshi ato mo nashi koshi wa mukashi no niwa no ogihara - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

形見とてほの踏み分けし跡もなし
来しは昔の庭の荻原

Roma-ji: Katami tote hono fumiwakeshi ato mo nashi koshi wa mukashi no niwa no ogihara
English Translation: Not even the faint
tracks you left through the grasses
remain as keepsake;
your coming was long ago,
now all is reeds in the garden.
Meaning: Not even the faint path you trod through the grass remains as a keepsake; your visits belong to the past, and now the garden is all a field of reeds.
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1289

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the fifth poem of the sequence on love unvisited in a neglected dwelling. Not even the faint path trodden through the grass remains as a keepsake, the speaker says; your visits are long past, and now the garden is a field of reeds. As with the preceding poem, the headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances are not recorded.
The author, "Fujiwara no Yasusue, Lord of the Court," was a poet of the early Kamakura period. "Lord of the Court" is an honorific added to the names of those of the fifth rank and above.

The first line, "katami tote," means "as a keepsake." The footprints left by the lover's visits are regarded as a keepsake.
The second line, "hono fumiwakeshi," means "faintly trodden through the grass."
The third line, "ato mo nashi," means "not even the trace remains," and the poem breaks after it. Like "ato taete" in the first line of 1286, it tells that the traces of visits have vanished.
The fourth line, "koshi wa mukashi no," means "your coming belongs to the past."
The last line, "niwa no ogihara," ends on a noun. Closing with "niwa no," like "niwa no yomogiu" in 1285 and "niwa no shiratsuyu" in 1286, it adds a field of reeds to the mugwort, cogon grass, and white dew, layering the scenes of a neglected garden.
Author: Fujiwara no Yasusue
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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