Tani no to o toji ya hatetsuru uguisu no matsu ni oto sede haru mo suginuru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

谷の戸を閉ぢやはてつる鶯の
待つに音せで春も過ぎぬる

Roma-ji: Tani no to o toji ya hatetsuru uguisu no matsu ni oto sede haru mo suginuru
English Translation: Has it shut up fast
the door of its valley home,
the bush warbler,
that it never gave a call
while I waited, and spring has passed?
Meaning: Has the bush warbler shut fast the door of its valley home? It never gave a call while I waited, and now spring has passed.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Spring Poems 1064

Headnote: "Sent on the first day of the fourth month, when Kintō, Intendant of the Right Gate Guards, had shut himself away"
The poet asks whether the bush warbler has shut fast the door of its valley home, for spring has passed while he waited and it never gave a call. The headnote shows that Michinaga sent it on the first day of the fourth month, when Fujiwara no Kintō had shut himself away at home. Likening Kintō, hidden away and unseen, to a warbler that has closed its valley dwelling and does not sing, he reproaches him for sending no word as spring ends and urges him to come out. Together with Kintō's reply in the next poem, 1065, it forms an exchange.
The author, written as "the Minister of the Left," is Fujiwara no Michinaga. A son of Fujiwara no Kaneie, he passed through the office of Minister of the Left to become Regent and Chancellor, and by making his daughters empresses brought the regency government to its height.

First line, "tani no to o," means "the door of the valley," speaking of the valley dwelling where the warbler spends the winter.
Second line, "toji ya hatetsuru," means "has it shut it fast," with the binding particle "ya" resolved by "tsuru," the attributive form of the perfective "tsu." The poem breaks after this second line.
Third line, "uguisu no," means "the bush warbler," standing for Kintō in his seclusion.
Fourth line, "matsu ni oto sede," means "without a sound while I waited," with "de" a negative conjunctive particle.
Final line, "haru mo suginuru," means "spring too has passed," taking up the first day of the fourth month in the headnote. It is carried into the first and second lines of the next poem, 1065, "yukikaeru haru o mo shirazu."
Author: Fujiwara no Michinaga
Source: Shui Wakashu
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