Waga kado no itai no shimizu sato tōmi hito shi kumaneba mikusa oi ni keri - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

我が門の板井の清水里遠み
人し汲まねば水草生ひにけり

Roma-ji: Waga kado no itai no shimizu sato tōmi hito shi kumaneba mikusa oi ni keri
English Translation: At my gate, the well
with boards, and its clear water:
the village far,
since no one comes to draw,
water weeds have grown there now.
Meaning: The clear water of the board-lined well at my gate lies far from the village; no one comes to draw it, and water weeds have overgrown it.
Commentary: Book Twenty Poems of the Bureau of Court Song 1079

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Kagura Songs: Torimono Song"
The song tells of the well by the gate: because it lies far from the village, no one draws from it, and water plants have grown over it. It carries the loneliness of receiving no visitors and can also be read as a lament for a lover who no longer comes. Linked to the ladle torimono, it closes the torimono group. No author is recorded.
Torimono songs are kagura songs sung on the hand-held objects that dancers carried in the sacred dance, such as sakaki branches, bows, ladles and vines. Poems 1074 through 1079 form this group of six.

The first line, "at my gate," sets the song in a familiar place by one's own house.
The second line, "the clear water of the board-lined well," names a well framed with boards; its water is what the ladle torimono would draw.
The third line, "the village being far," uses the suffix mi to give a cause.
The fourth line, "since no one draws it," has the emphatic shi and ba for a confirmed cause.
The last line, "water weeds have grown," uses keri for the exclamation of noticing. It ends in ni keri like "have grown thick together" in 1074 and "have taken on color" in 1077 of this book, giving the torimono songs matching close.
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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