Yoiyoi ni makura sadamemu kata mo nashi ika ni neshi yo ka yume ni miekemu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

宵々に枕定めむ方もなし
いかに寝し夜か夢に見えけむ

Roma-ji: Yoiyoi ni makura sadamemu kata mo nashi ika ni neshi yo ka yume ni miekemu
English Translation: Evening after evening
I know not which way to lay
my pillow for sleep
how was I lying the night
that you came into my dream
Meaning: Night after night I cannot decide which way to set my pillow; how was I lying on the night when you appeared to me in a dream?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 516

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet cannot remember how he lay on the night the beloved once appeared in a dream, and so each night he cannot decide which way to set his pillow. Drawing on the folk belief that the placement of one's pillow determines whom one dreams of, it expresses the aching wish to meet once more in a dream. It heralds the dream poems that follow in the latter part of this book.

First line, "Evening after evening": yoiyoi ni means every night.
Second line, "I know not which way to lay": makura sadamemu means "to settle my pillow," drawing on the belief that the pillow's placement decides whom one dreams of.
Third line, "my pillow for sleep": kata mo nashi means there is no way, no direction known, and the poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "how was I lying the night": ika ni neshi yo ka means "on what kind of night did I sleep," with ka an interrogative particle forming a kakari-musubi with kemu at the end.
Fifth line, "that you came into my dream": yume ni miekemu means "did you appear in my dream?", with kemu an auxiliary of conjecture about the past. Poem 525 of this book, with "no way to sleep," likewise sings of the frustration of a love met only in dreams.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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