Ie ni ikite waga ya o mireba tamazasa no hoka ni okikeru imo ga komakura - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

家に行きて我が屋を見れば玉笹の
外に置きける妹が小枕

Roma-ji: Ie ni ikite waga ya o mireba tamazasa no hoka ni okikeru imo ga komakura
English Translation: Going home again,
I look about my house, and there,
outside the bamboo leaves,
left just where she placed it,
my wife's little pillow lies.
Meaning: When I go home and look at my house, there, set apart outside the bamboo leaves, lies my wife's little pillow.
Commentary: Book Twenty Lament Poems 1319

Headnote: "Composed in sorrow after his wife had died"
The poet says that going home and looking at his house, he finds his dead wife's little pillow left outside the bamboo leaves. The headnote shows it was composed in sorrow after his wife died. Returning home after the funeral, he sees his wife's pillow left in the bedchamber that has lost its mistress, and entrusting to a concrete object the grief of being reminded once more of her absence, he sings of his sorrow.
The author, written as "Hitomaro," is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. A court poet who served in the reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu, he is revered as the Saint of Poetry. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
A similar poem appears in Book Two of the Man'yōshū as one of his poems of tears of blood lamenting his wife's death: "ie ni kite waga ya o mireba tamatoko no hoka ni mukikeri imo ga komakura."
The first line of the main text reads "ie ni ikite," which does not match "ie ni yukite" in the reading line. Here the main text is followed.

First line, "ie ni ikite," means "going home," a hypermetric line of six syllables.
Second line, "waga ya o mireba," means "when I look at my house," with "ba" after the perfective form expressing a condition.
Third line, "tamazasa no," means "of the lovely bamboo grass," with "tama" a word of praise.
Fourth line, "hoka ni okikeru," means "left outside," the pillow whose owner is gone.
Final line, "imo ga komakura," means "my wife's little pillow," ending on a noun.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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