Natsuyama no kage o shigemi ya tamaboko no michi yuku hito mo tachitomaruran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

夏山の影を茂みや玉鉾の
道行く人も立ちとまるらん

Roma-ji: Natsuyama no kage o shigemi ya tamaboko no michi yuku hito mo tachitomaruran
English Translation: Is it that the shade
of the summer hills is so thick
that on jeweled spear
roads those who are passing by
stop and stand there for a while?
Meaning: Is it because the shade on the summer mountain is so thick that even travelers on the road stop and stand there?
Commentary: Book Two Summer Poems 130

Headnote: "For a folding screen in the reign of Engi"
The poet wonders whether the thick shade of the summer mountain makes even the travelers on the road stop to rest in the cool. In the figures of travelers painted on the screen, he reads the comfort of the summer shade. According to the headnote, it accompanied a folding screen made in the Engi era of Emperor Daigo.
The author, written as Tsurayuki, is Ki no Tsurayuki. The leading compiler of the Kokinshū, he wrote its Kana Preface and the Tosa Diary, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "natsuyama no," is the same as the third line of the preceding poem, so that two poems on the shade of summer mountains stand side by side.
Second line, "kage o shigemi ya," means "because the shade is so thick," with "o ... mi" as a construction expressing cause. The questioning particle "ya" is resolved by "ran" in the final line.
Third line, "tamaboko no," is a pillow word that modifies "michi" (road).
Fourth line, "michi yuku hito mo," means "even those traveling the road," with "mo" carrying the sense "like the traveler of the preceding poem."
Final line, "tachitomaruran," means "might they stop and stand," closing with "ran," the attributive of the present conjectural auxiliary. Whereas the preceding poem sang of the traveler's own reluctance to leave, this poem looks on other travelers on the road, grasping the same theme from inside and outside.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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