Shime okite ima ya to omou akiyama no yomogi ga moto ni matsumushi no naku - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

しめおきて今やと思ふ秋山の
蓬がもとにまつむしの鳴く

Roma-ji: Shime okite ima ya to omou akiyama no yomogi ga moto ni matsumushi no naku
English Translation: On the autumn hill
I have marked out as my place,
thinking, 'Is it now?'
at the foot of the mugwort
the pine cricket sings, waiting.
Meaning: On the autumn hill I have marked as my resting place, wondering whether the time has come, a pine cricket sings at the foot of the mugwort, as though waiting for me.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1560

Headnote: "Composed and presented when a hundred-poem sequence was called for, after I was well past eighty."
This is the first poem of the sequence expressing personal feelings through the things of autumn. On the autumn hill he has marked as his grave, wondering whether the time has come, a pine cricket sings at the foot of the mugwort as though waiting for him. According to the headnote, it was composed and presented when Retired Emperor Go-Toba called for a hundred-poem sequence, after the poet was well past eighty.
The author, "Master of the Empress Dowager's Household Shunzei," is Fujiwara no Shunzei. He was the son of Fujiwara no Toshitada and the father of Teika. He served as Master of the Empress Dowager's Household and took the tonsure in Angen 2 (1176). He compiled the Senzai Wakashū.

The first line, "shime okite," means "having marked it out as my own place," here marking out his grave.
The second line, "ima ya to omou," means "thinking, 'Is it now?'" It shows the heart of one who, grown old, feels death close at hand.
The third line, "akiyama no," refers to the autumn hill marked as his grave. It moves from the seaside moon of the preceding sequence to the scene of an autumn hill.
The fourth line, "yomogi ga moto ni," refers to the foot of thick mugwort. Mugwort is sung as a plant that grows in wasteland and on graves.
In the last line, "matsumushi no naku," "matsumushi" plays on "matsumushi," the pine cricket, and "matsu," to wait. The cricket sings at the foot of the mugwort on his grave as if waiting for him, showing an old age that looks calmly on death. From here, poems follow that express personal feelings through the things of autumn.
Author: Fujiwara no Shunzei
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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