Tabibito no kaya kari ōi tsukuru chō maroya wa hito o omoiwasururu - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

旅人の茅刈り覆ひ作るてふ
まろやは人を思ひ忘るる

Roma-ji: Tabibito no kaya kari ōi tsukuru chō maroya wa hito o omoiwasururu
English Translation: Like the round hut built
by travelers, who cut the reeds
to thatch it over—
would I, then, ever forget
the one I hold so dear?
Meaning: Like the round hut travelers are said to build, thatching it with reeds they have cut—would I, of all people, ever forget the one I love?
Commentary: Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 886

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
Setting on "maroya," the round hut that travelers are said to build by cutting reeds and thatching it, "maro ya," I myself, the poem asks: would I ever forget the one I love? It turns from the image of a rough makeshift hut to a declaration of unchanging love.

First line, "tabibito no," means "travelers."
Second line, "kaya kari ōi," means "cutting reeds and thatching."
Third line, "tsukuru chō," means "which, they say, they build," with "chō" a contraction of "to iu." From the first line to here forms a preface leading to "maroya."
Fourth line, "maroya wa hito o," means "would I, the one I love," with "maroya" a pivot word joining "maroya," a rough makeshift round hut, and "maro ya," the first-person "maro" with the binding particle "ya." "Ya wa" expresses a rhetorical question. With "koya" in the preceding poem, 885, two poems on a hut and a round hut stand side by side.
Final line, "omoiwasururu," means "would I forget? Never," concluding in the attributive in answer to "ya wa."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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