Tare zo kono ya no to osoburu niunami ni waga se o yarite iwau kono to o

誰れぞこの屋の戸押そぶる新嘗に
我が背を遣りて斎ふこの戸を

Roma-ji: Tare zo kono ya no to osoburu niunami ni waga se o yarite iwau kono to o
English Translation: Who is it there,
pushing at the door of this house?
On harvest-feast night,
having sent my husband out,
I keep this door in purity.
Meaning: Who is that shaking the door of this house—this door I keep pure on the night of the harvest feast, having sent my husband away?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Azuma Poems 3460

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sōmon (Love Exchanges)"
On the night of the harvest offering, a woman has sent her husband out and keeps herself pure to receive the god, yet someone shakes her door—who is it? The tension between the sacred restraint and the visitor who would break it is dramatically drawn.
It is one of the love exchanges. Poem 3386 from Shimōsa also tells of leaving a lover outside the door on the night of the harvest offering, and both preserve eastern customs of that night.
The poet is unknown. The Azuma uta are thought to have been sung among the people of the eastern provinces, and they are marked by plain, open-hearted expression mixed with local dialect.

First line, "tare zo kono": "Zo" is an interrogative binding particle answered by the attributive "ru" in the second line.
Second line, "ya no to osoburu": "Osoburu" means to push and rattle, to knock at a door; the poem pauses here.
Third line, "niunami ni": The festival of offering new rice to the gods, a night when the household kept vigil to receive the god.
Fourth line, "waga se o yarite": "Having sent my husband out"; it is thought men left the house on harvest-feast night.
Final line, "iwau kono to o": "Iwau" is to purify oneself and keep the taboo; the inversion explains "the door" of the second line.
Source: Manyoshu
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