Tataku tote yado no tsumado o aketareba hito mo kozue no kuina narikeri - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

叩くとて宿の妻戸を開けたれば
人もこずゑの水鶏なりけり

Roma-ji: Tataku tote yado no tsumado o aketareba hito mo kozue no kuina narikeri
English Translation: Thinking someone knocked,
I opened the side door wide
of my house, and found
no one came; from the treetops
it was a water rail's call.
Meaning: Thinking someone was knocking, I opened the side door of my house, but no one had come; it was only a water rail calling from the treetops.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 822

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that, thinking someone was knocking, one opened the side door, only to find no one had come, and it was the water rail crying in the treetops. It sings, with light wit, of the disappointment of mistaking the water rail's knocking cry for the visit of a lover.

First line, "tataku tote," means "thinking it was knocking." The water rail's cry was said to resemble a knock on a door.
Second line, "yado no tsumado o," means "the side door of the house."
Third line, "aketareba," means "when I opened it," with "ba" a fixed condition.
Fourth line, "hito mo kozue no," is a pivot word: "kozue" means "no one came," "kozu," and the "treetops," "kozue." Like the first line of 820, "konu hito o," it sings of one who does not come.
Final line, "kuina narikeri," means "it was a water rail," with "keri" an exclamation of realization. Following the cuckoos of 820 and 821, it sings of a summer bird.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
Prev Poem: Shinonome ni naki koso watare hototogisu mono omou yado wa shiruku ya aruran
Next Poem: Natsugoromo usuki nagara zo tanomaruru hitoe naru shimo mi ni chikakereba