Idete yukamu hito o todomemu yoshi naki ni tonari no kata ni hana mo hinu kana - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

出でて行かむ人をとどめむよしなきに
隣の方に鼻もひぬかな

Roma-ji: Idete yukamu hito o todomemu yoshi naki ni tonari no kata ni hana mo hinu kana
English Translation: The one who would leave,
setting out upon the road—
I've no way to stop them;
if only from the house next door
someone would let out a sneeze
Meaning: I have no way to keep the one who is leaving from going. If only someone next door would sneeze.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Miscellaneous Forms 1043

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Since there was a folk belief that hearing a sneeze at departure was a bad omen and a reason to postpone a journey, the poet wishes that a neighbor would sneeze and so detain the departing one. Bringing so lowly a subject as a sneeze into a poem gives it its haikai quality.
The author is unknown and is recorded as "Anonymous."

First line, "Idete yukamu," means who is about to leave. The line has an extra syllable.
Second line, "hito o todomemu," means to hold that person back.
Third line, "yoshi naki ni," means though I have no way.
Fourth line, "tonari no kata ni," means over at the neighbor's.
Fifth line, "hana mo hinu kana," uses "hana hiru," to sneeze, with the wishful "nu kana": if only someone would.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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