Ikadeka wa tazunekitsuran yomogiu no hito mo kayowanu waga yado no michi - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いかでかは尋ね来つらん蓬生の
人も通はぬ我が宿の道

Roma-ji: Ikadeka wa tazunekitsuran yomogiu no hito mo kayowanu waga yado no michi
English Translation: How could you have come
seeking me along this way,
overgrown with mugwort,
where no one ever passes,
the path that leads to my home?
Meaning: How could you have found your way here, along the path to my house, overgrown with mugwort, where no one ever comes?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Congratulatory Poems 1203

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet asks how the visitor could have found the path to her house, overgrown with mugwort, where no one passes. In the form of a question, it expresses surprise and joy at someone unexpectedly coming to a dwelling gone to ruin and visited by no one. Against the fear of a broken bond in the preceding poem, 1202, here someone comes along a path long deserted.

First line, "ikadeka wa," means "how could it be," with "ka wa" expressing a question that answers "ran" in the second line.
Second line, "tazunekitsuran," means "could you have come seeking," with "tsu" perfective and "ran" conjectural. The poem breaks after this second line, and the lower verse gives the path in inverted order.
Third line, "yomogiu no," means "overgrown with mugwort," speaking of a dwelling gone to ruin.
Fourth line, "hito mo kayowanu," means "where no one passes," speaking of the loneliness of having no visitors. It answers the "todae," the break in visits, in the fourth line of the preceding poem, 1202.
Final line, "waga yado no michi," means "the path to my house," ending on a noun. It shares the words "waga yado" with the third line of the next poem, 1204, "waga yado o."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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