Inishie wa ta ga furusato zo obotsukana yado moru ame ni toite shirabaya - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いにしへは誰が古里ぞおぼつかな
宿もる雨に問ひて知らばや

Roma-ji: Inishie wa ta ga furusato zo obotsukana yado moru ame ni toite shirabaya
English Translation: In the days of old,
whose old home was this? I wonder,
uncertain still;
the rain that leaks and guards the house,
I'd ask it, and so learn.
Meaning: Whose old home was this in days gone by? I cannot tell; I would like to ask the rain that leaks into this house, that has kept it all along, and learn.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Congratulatory Poems 1205

Headnote: "When it rained at the place he was visiting"
The poet wonders, uneasy, whose old home this house was in days past, and wishes he could ask the rain that leaks into it and has kept it all along. The headnote shows it was composed when it rained at the house of the woman he was visiting. Imagining, in the old house where rain leaks in, with whom the woman once spent her days, it voices in a joking way a heart touched with jealousy that longs to know her past. Like the preceding poem, 1204, it sings of a house where rain leaks in, through the pivot on leaking and guarding.
The author, written as "Major Counselor Asateru," is Fujiwara no Asateru. A son of the Chancellor Fujiwara no Kanemichi, he rose to Major Counselor, and his personal collection is the Asateru-shū.

First line, "inishie wa," means "in days of old."
Second line, "ta ga furusato zo," means "whose old home was it," with "zo" strengthening the question, speaking of a dwelling of old acquaintance.
Third line, "obotsukana," means "I cannot tell, and it troubles me," ending on the stem of the adjective "obotsukanashi" to express a sigh. The poem breaks after this third line.
Fourth line, "yado moru ame ni," is a pivot word: "moru" means rain "leaking" and "guarding" the house. It shares the same pivot with the second line of the preceding poem, 1204, "moru hito mo naki."
Final line, "toite shirabaya," means "I would ask and learn," with "baya" a final particle of one's own wish.
Author: Fujiwara no Asateru
Source: Shui Wakashu
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