Suminareshi waga furusato wa kono goro ya asaji ga hara ni uzura nakuran - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

住み慣れしわが故郷はこのごろや
浅茅が原に鶉鳴くらん

Roma-ji: Suminareshi waga furusato wa kono goro ya asaji ga hara ni uzura nakuran
English Translation: The place I called home,
where long I dwelt and grew used—
these days, I wonder,
in a field of low reed grass
do the quail now cry?
Meaning: My old home, where I lived so long—these days, I wonder, has it become a field of low reeds where quail cry?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1680

Headnote: "Composed thinking of the lodging where I had lived, after Miidera burned."
This is the first poem of a sequence on a ruined old home. The poet imagines his familiar lodging, which he wonders may now be a field of low reeds where quail cry. According to the headnote, it was composed thinking of the monk's lodging where he had lived, after Miidera burned.
The author, "Daisōjō Gyōson," was a son of Consultant Minamoto no Motohira and a monk of Onjōji. He practiced long at Ōmine and Kumano and later became Tendai Abbot.
Miidera is the popular name of Onjōji in Ōmi Province, which was repeatedly burned in its conflicts with Enryakuji on Mount Hiei.

The first line, "suminareshi," means "where I long lived and grew used to."
The second line, "waga furusato wa," means "my old home," referring to his lodging at Miidera, now burned.
The third line, "kono goro ya," means "these days." "Ya" is an interrogative particle.
The fourth line, "asaji ga hara ni," means "in a field of low reed grass," imagining the burned site turned to wasteland.
The last line, "uzura nakuran," closes the kakari-musubi of "ya" with the attributive form of "ran." The quail is sung as a bird crying in wild fields, and he imagines from afar the ruin of his old home. Taking up the longing for the past in the preceding sequence, a sequence on a ruined old home begins.
Author: Gyōson
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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