Hikoboshi no yukiai o matsu kasasagi no towataru hashi o ware ni kasanamu - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

彦星の行き逢ひを待つかささぎの
門渡る橋を我に貸さなむ

Roma-ji: Hikoboshi no yukiai o matsu kasasagi no towataru hashi o ware ni kasanamu
English Translation: The magpies that wait
for the Herdboy Star to meet
his love once a year—
the bridge they lay across the strait,
I wish they would lend to me.
Meaning: I wish the magpies would lend me the bridge they lay across the strait for the Herdboy Star, who waits to meet his love.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1700

Headnote: "Magpie."
A poem on the topic of the magpie, this is the eleventh of Sugawara no Michizane's twelve poems on one-character topics. He wishes he might borrow the bridge the magpies lay on the night of Tanabata for the meeting of the Herdboy and the Weaver Maid. His longing to cross the sea to the capital is entrusted to the Tanabata legend.
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.
A Chinese legend tells that on the night of Tanabata magpies link their wings to form a bridge over the River of Heaven, which the Weaver Maid crosses to meet the Herdboy; it was taken up in Japanese waka as well.

The first line, "Hikoboshi no," is the Herdboy Star, said to meet the Weaver Maid on the night of the seventh day of the seventh month.
The second line, "yukiai o matsu," means "waiting for their meeting," the tryst that comes once a year.
The third line, "kasasagi no," is the word of the topic, the bird said in the Tanabata legend to bridge the River of Heaven.
In the fourth line, "towataru hashi o," "towataru" means to cross a strait or narrow channel. The bridge over the River of Heaven is overlaid with a bridge across the sea that divides Tsukushi from the capital.
In the last line, "ware ni kasanamu," "namu" is a final particle expressing a wish directed at another. It shows his desperate longing to return to the capital, even if he must borrow the bridge meant for the lovers in the sky.
Author: Sugawara no Michizane
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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