Izuko ni mo kusa no makura o suzumushi wa koko o tabi to mo omowazaranan - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いづこにも草の枕をすずむしは
ここを旅とも思はざらなん

Roma-ji: Izuko ni mo kusa no makura o suzumushi wa koko o tabi to mo omowazaranan
English Translation: Anywhere it goes
it makes its pillow of grass,
the bell cricket, so
may it never think that here
is a lodging on a journey.
Meaning: The bell cricket makes its pillow of grass wherever it may be, so I hope it will not think of this place as a stop on a journey.
Commentary: Book Three Autumn Poems 179

Headnote: "On releasing bell crickets in the garden"
Having released bell crickets among the garden plants, the poet hopes that since they pillow themselves on grass wherever they are, they will not think of this garden as a stop on a journey but make it their home. The poem wittily applies "grass pillow," a phrase meaning a night on the road, to the bell cricket that lives in the grass. According to the headnote, it was composed on releasing bell crickets among the plants of the garden.
Ise was a woman poet of the early to mid-Heian period and a daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage. She served Onshi, consort of Emperor Uda, and became the mother of Nakatsukasa. She is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "izuko ni mo," means "wherever it may be." Using the same "izuko" as "izuko naruran" in the preceding poem, it pairs two poems on the whereabouts of insects.
Second line, "kusa no makura o," means "a pillow of grass," drawing on "kusamakura," a word for sleeping on a journey.
Third line, "suzumushi wa," overlaps the "su" of "kusa no makura o su" (makes a pillow of grass) with "suzumushi," joining the sense of pillowing on grass with the name of the bell cricket.
Fourth line, "koko o tabi to mo," means "this place as a journey."
Final line, "omowazaranan," means "may it not think," with "nan" as a particle expressing a wish directed at another. Whereas the preceding poem could not find where the insects were, this one settles them in the garden, so the one who seeks and the one who welcomes form a pair.
Author: Ise
Source: Shui Wakashu
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