Imasara ni tou beki hito mo omooezu yaemugura shite kado saseri tee - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

今更に訪ふべき人も思ほえず
八重葎して門させりてへ

Roma-ji: Imasara ni tou beki hito mo omooezu yaemugura shite kado saseri tee
English Translation: At this late hour
no one comes to mind who
should come calling here;
tell them that the eightfold weeds
have grown and shut fast my gate.
Meaning: At this late date, I can think of no one who would come to call. Tell them that the gate is shut fast, overgrown with tangled weeds.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems II 975

Headnote: "Reply"
This reply is placed after the preceding exchange. Since the speaker can think of no one who would come calling now, the messenger is told to say that thick, tangled weeds have shut the gate, showing a heart that has left the world and keeps others away.
"Eightfold weeds" symbolize a neglected dwelling, expressing both the loneliness of receiving no visitors and a resolve to see no one again. Like "shut fast its gate" in 964 in this book, it sings of a closed gate.
The author is recorded as anonymous, and the name has not come down to us.

The first line, "at this late hour," is the same opening as 957 in this book.
The second line, "who should come calling," refers to those who might be expected to visit.
The third line, "no one comes to mind," is the same phrase as the third line of the previous poem, 974; the poem breaks here.
The fourth line, "the eightfold weeds have grown," refers to thick, tangled mugura weeds.
The last line, "tell them ... shut fast my gate," uses sase, from sasu, "to shut," the continuative ri, and tee, a contraction of to ie, "say that."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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