Karukaya no sekimori ni nomi mietsuru wa hito mo yurusanu michibe narikeri - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

刈萱の関守にのみ見えつるは
人も許さぬ道辺なりけり

Roma-ji: Karukaya no sekimori ni nomi mietsuru wa hito mo yurusanu michibe narikeri
English Translation: That the karukaya
seemed to me like nothing else
but barrier guards,
was because this is a road
where none may be let to pass.
Meaning: The karukaya grass looked to me like nothing but barrier guards, and now I see it is because this is a roadside where no one is allowed to pass.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1698

Headnote: "Road."
A poem on the topic of the road, this is the ninth of Sugawara no Michizane's twelve poems on one-character topics. The karukaya grass by the road looked like nothing but barrier guards blocking the way, and he realizes it is because this is a road no one may pass. He entrusts to the roadside scene his plight as one not allowed to leave his place of exile.
The author, "Kan Zō Daijō Daijin," is Sugawara no Michizane. No author is named in the original; the attribution continues from the preceding poem. The son of Sugawara no Koreyoshi and renowned as a scholar and poet in Chinese, he rose to Minister of the Right but under Emperor Daigo was demoted to Provisional Governor-General of Dazaifu and died in exile. Because he was posthumously granted the office of Chancellor, he is referred to by this title.

The first line, "karukaya no," names karukaya, a grass of the rice family that sends up plumes in clusters across the autumn fields.
The second line, "sekimori ni nomi," means "like nothing but barrier guards." The grass lining the road is seen as guards watching over the traffic.
In the third line, "mietsuru wa," "tsuru" is the attributive form of the perfective "tsu." It asks why it seemed so and seeks the reason in the lower verse.
The fourth line, "hito mo yurusanu," means "allowing no one to pass." It hints at the lot of an exile who cannot come and go freely.
In the last line, "michibe narikeri," "keri" expresses realization. Working in the road of the topic, he laments his confinement in the form of suddenly grasping why the grass looked like guards.
Author: Sugawara no Michizane
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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