Yamazato no maki no itado mo sasazariki tanomeshi hito o machishi yoi yori - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

山里の槙の板戸もささざりき
頼めし人を待ちし宵より

Roma-ji: Yamazato no maki no itado mo sasazariki tanomeshi hito o machishi yoi yori
English Translation: At my mountain home
the door of fine wooden boards
I did not bar,
from the evening I first waited
for the one who promised to come
Meaning: In my mountain home I never barred the door of fine pine boards, from the evening I began to wait for the one who promised to come.
Commentary: Book Nine Love Poems I 589

Headnote: "The man said he would come but did not."
The poet says that in her mountain home she never barred the door of fine boards, from the evening she began to wait for the one who promised to come. It conveys the feelings of a woman who waited all night with her door open for a man who never came.
According to the headnote, she composed it because the man said he would come but did not. Simply by telling how she left the door unbarred, she conveys the length of the night spent waiting.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the poet as "yomibito mo," which is treated here as "anonymous."

The first line, "Yamazato no," means "of my mountain home."
The second line, "maki no itado mo," means "even the door of fine wooden boards."
The third line, "sasazariki," means "I did not bar," with "ki" the past auxiliary. The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "tanomeshi hito o," means "the one who promised to come and made me rely on it."
The last line, "machishi yoi yori," means "from the evening I began to wait," in inverted order with the third line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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