Miyako naru aretaru yado ni munashiku ya tsuki ni tazunuru hito kaeruran - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

都なる荒れたる宿にむなしくや
月に尋ぬる人帰るらん

Roma-ji: Miyako naru aretaru yado ni munashiku ya tsuki ni tazunuru hito kaeruran
English Translation: To my ruined house
back there in the capital,
has someone, I wonder,
come calling for the moon's sake
and gone home again in vain?
Meaning: I wonder whether someone, drawn by the moon, has come calling at my ruined house in the capital, only to go home again disappointed.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1544

Headnote: "Composed on the spirit of 'Thinking of the Capital on a Moonlit Night in a Mountain Village.'"
This is the first poem of the sequence on the moon of mountain village and capital. While he is in a mountain village, the poet wonders whether someone, drawn by the moon, has called at his ruined house in the capital and gone home in vain. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic of thinking of the capital on a moonlit night while in a mountain village.
The author, "Ōe no Yoshitoki," was a poet of the mid-Heian period. He served as Governor of Tsushima.

The first line, "miyako naru," means "in the capital." It presents the capital in contrast with the mountain village where he is.
The second line, "aretaru yado ni," refers to his own house fallen into ruin. It shows a house without its master.
In the third line, "munashiku ya," "ya" is an interrogative binding particle, closed by "ran" in the last line.
The fourth line, "tsuki ni tazunuru," means "coming to call, drawn by the moon's beauty." It shows the elegant custom of visiting a friend on a moonlit night.
The last line, "hito kaeruran," closes the kakari-musubi of the particle "ya" with the attributive form "ran." Whereas the preceding poem made the moon a companion on the mountain path, here he thinks from the mountain village of a friend in the capital, and poems follow that link mountain village and capital through the moon.
Author: Ōe no Yoshitoki
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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