Miyabito no sureru koromo ni yūdasuki kakete kokoro o tare ni yosuran - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

宮人の摺れる衣に木綿襷
かけて心を誰に寄すらん

Roma-ji: Miyabito no sureru koromo ni yūdasuki kakete kokoro o tare ni yosuran
English Translation: The courtiers wear
robes printed with blue patterns,
sacred cords of bark
cast across them—and their hearts,
to whom are they given now?
Meaning: The courtiers, with sacred bark-cloth cords slung across their printed robes—upon whom do they set their hearts?
Commentary: Book Nineteen Poems on the Gods 1870

Headnote: "Composed on the Special Festival."
This is the third poem in the sequence on rites and festivals. It pictures courtiers serving at the Special Festival, with bark-cloth cords slung over their printed robes, and asks upon whom they set their hearts. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic of the Special Festival. Depicting the courtiers in the dress of those who serve the gods, it asks where their hearts are directed.
No author is named in the original, and the poem is treated as continuing from the author of the preceding poem, Ki no Tsurayuki.
The Special Festivals were held by the court at the Kamo Shrines and at Iwashimizu Hachimangū apart from their regular festivals. The Kamo Special Festival took place in the eleventh month, the Iwashimizu Special Festival in the third.

The first line, "miyabito no," refers to those who serve at court, here the dancers and others serving at the festival.
The second line, "sureru koromo ni," means "on robes printed with patterns" in dyes such as mountain indigo, recalling the blue-printed robes worn by the dancers at the Special Festival.
The third line, "yūdasuki," is a cord of bark-cloth fiber worn across the shoulders by those serving in sacred rites.
In the fourth line, "kakete kokoro o," "kakete" is a pivot word joining "slinging" the cord and "setting" the heart. The first three lines serve as a preface leading to "kakete."
The last line, "tare ni yosuran," means "to whom do they give them?" The conjectural "ran" frames the question. It shares the conjecturing "ran" with "tomete kitsuran" in the preceding poem, as two poems by Tsurayuki stand together.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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