Yamagatsu no kakiho watari o ika ni zo to shimo karegare ni tou hito mo nashi - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

山賤の垣ほわたりをいかにぞと
霜かれがれに訪ふ人もなし

Roma-ji: Yamagatsu no kakiho watari o ika ni zo to shimo karegare ni tou hito mo nashi
English Translation: Round the brushwood fence
of one who lives in mountain wilds,
"How are you?" they ask,
no one, for with frost things wither
and all have drifted far away.
Meaning: No one comes to ask how things are around the hedge of this humble mountain dwelling, for as the plants wither in the frost, visitors too have drifted away.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Autumn Poems 1143

Headnote: "Sent around the tenth month, after the Provisional Middle Counselor Yoshichika had taken holy orders, by his daughter, who was being raised by the High Priestess of Kamo, to her elder sister at the Eastern Palace"
The poet says that now, as the plants wither in the frost, visits too have ceased, and no one comes to ask after her around the hedge of her humble mountain dwelling. The headnote shows it was sent around the tenth month, after the Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Yoshichika had taken holy orders, by his daughter, who was being raised by the High Priestess of Kamo, to her elder sister at the Eastern Palace. She entrusts to a scene of a mountain village in the season of frost-withered plants the loneliness of one who has lost her support through her father's renunciation. The High Priestess of Kamo at the time was Princess Senshi, a daughter of Emperor Murakami.
The author is a daughter of Fujiwara no Yoshichika, whose name is not known. Yoshichika, a son of the regent Fujiwara no Koretada, governed as the uncle of Emperor Kazan, but in Kanna 2 (986) he followed the emperor in taking holy orders.

First line, "yamagatsu no," means "of a humble mountain dweller," modestly referring to her own dwelling.
Second line, "kakiho watari o," means "around the hedge."
Third line, "ika ni zo to," means "asking how things are."
Fourth line, "shimo karegare ni," turns on the pivot word "karegare," joining "karegare," the plants withering in the frost, and "karegare," visits growing rare. It echoes the third line of 1154 in this book, "shimogare no," and the first line of 1155, "shimogare ni," in singing of frost-withered plants.
Final line, "tou hito mo nashi," means "there is no one who comes to visit."
Author: Daughter of Fujiwara no Yoshichika
Source: Shui Wakashu
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