Kimi ga inishi kata ya izure zo shirakumo no nushi naki yado to miru ga kanashisa - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

君がいにし方やいづれぞ白雲の
主なき宿と見るが悲しさ

Roma-ji: Kimi ga inishi kata ya izure zo shirakumo no nushi naki yado to miru ga kanashisa
English Translation: Which is the way,
I wonder, that you have gone—
the white clouds hang
over a house with no master,
and seeing it is so sad
Meaning: Which way have you gone? How sad to look on this house where white clouds hang, a house that no longer has its master.
Commentary: Book Twenty Congratulatory Poems 1416

Headnote: "The year after Lord Atsutada died, when various people went to see his house at Ono and talked together, composed on that occasion."
Kiyotada asks which way the dead man has gone and finds it sad to see the house, clouded white, without its master. Visiting the late Atsutada's mountain retreat at Ono, he stands before a masterless house under white clouds and, asking where its owner has gone, voices his sorrow.
According to the headnote, in the year after Fujiwara no Atsutada died, the poet went with others to see Atsutada's house at Ono, and composed this as they talked together. Fujiwara no Atsutada was a son of Fujiwara no Tokihira who rose to Provisional Middle Counselor, and the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu includes his poem "Aimite no nochi no kokoro ni kurabureba."
The poet, Fujiwara no Kiyotada, given in the text as "Kiyotada," was a son of Fujiwara no Kanesuke and is counted among the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

The first line, "Kimi ga inishi," means "where you went away," with an extra syllable.
The second line, "kata ya izure zo," means "which way was it." The poem pauses here.
The third line, "shirakumo no," means "of white clouds," the clouds hanging over the mountain house.
The fourth line, "nushi naki yado to," means "as a house without its master."
The last line, "miru ga kanashisa," means "how sad it is to see," ending on a noun.
Author: Fujiwara no Kiyotada
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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