Yaemugura shigeki yado ni wa natsumushi no koe yori hoka ni tou hito mo nashi - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

八重葎茂き宿には夏虫の
声より外に訪ふ人もなし

Roma-ji: Yaemugura shigeki yado ni wa natsumushi no koe yori hoka ni tou hito mo nashi
English Translation: Where the creeping weeds
grow thick about the dwelling,
but for the summer
insects, and their voices, none
comes to visit me at all
Meaning: At this house overgrown with tangled weeds, no one comes to call but the voices of the summer insects.
Commentary: Book Four Summer Poems 194

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
At a house overgrown with tangled weeds, no one comes but the voices of summer insects. The loneliness of a ruined dwelling is conveyed by insect voices alone resounding there.
The loneliness of a house thick with weeds was later sung by the monk Egyō, who says that though no one is seen in the lonely house overgrown with weeds, autumn has come, carrying the same mood into autumn.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Yaemugura," names creeping weeds grown thick in many layers, a symbol of a ruined house.
The second line, "shigeki yado ni wa," means "at the house where they grow thick," a ruined dwelling no one visits.
The third line, "natsumushi no," means "of summer insects," following the cicadas of 192 and 193 with insects of summer. "Natsumushi" also appears in 209 and 213 of this book.
The fourth line, "koe yori hoka ni," means "other than their voices."
The last line, "tou hito mo nashi," means "no one comes to visit." Like "kite tou hito no naki kana" in 154 of this book, it sings of the loneliness of receiving no visitors.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
Prev Poem: Tsune mo naki natsu no kusaba ni oku tsuyu o inochi to tanomu semi no hakanasa
Next Poem: Utsusemi no koe kiku kara ni mono zo omou ware mo munashiki yo ni shi sumaeba