Toshi o hete sumikoshi sato o idete inaba itodo fukakusa no to ya narinamu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

年を経て住みこし里を出でていなば
いとどふかくさ野とやなりなむ

Roma-ji: Toshi o hete sumikoshi sato o idete inaba itodo fukakusa no to ya narinamu
English Translation: If I leave behind
this village where I have lived
through so many years,
will Fukakusa, deep in grass,
grow deeper still into a moor?
Meaning: If I leave this village where I have lived for so many years, will Fukakusa, "deep grass," become even more overgrown, turning into a wild moor?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems II 971

Headnote: "Composed and sent to someone there when I had been living in the village of Fukakusa and was about to go to the capital"
Having lived in the village of Fukakusa and now about to move to the capital, Narihira sent this to a woman there. Imagining the village after his departure, he wonders whether it will turn into an even more overgrown moor, conveying his lingering feelings for the woman left behind.
The next poem, 972, is the woman's reply, and this exchange also appears in section 123 of The Tales of Ise.
The author, "Narihira no Ason," is Ariwara no Narihira; Ason is an honorific title. The son of Prince Abo and of Princess Ito, a daughter of Emperor Kanmu, he is one of the Six Poetic Immortals and the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, and is identified with the hero of The Tales of Ise.

The first line, "through so many years," gives the length of time.
The second line, "this village where I have lived," uses koshi, from the verb ku, "to come," and the past auxiliary ki.
The third line, "if I leave behind," is a conditional with six syllables instead of five.
The fourth line, "Fukakusa, deep in grass," contains a pivot word: itodo fukaku, "ever deeper," and the place name Fukakusa, "deep grass."
The last line, "grow deeper still into a moor," uses the interrogative ya with the attributive mu. The opening of the next poem, 972, "if it becomes a moor," takes this up.
Author: Ariwara no Narihira
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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