Miyakobito hiki na tsukushi so ayamegusa tabine no toko no makura bakari wa - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

都人引きな尽くしそあやめ草
旅寝の床の枕ばかりは

Roma-ji: Miyakobito hiki na tsukushi so ayamegusa tabine no toko no makura bakari wa
English Translation: People of the capital,
do not pull up every one
of the iris plants:
leave enough to make a pillow
for a traveler's bed
Meaning: People of the capital, do not pull up every iris; leave at least enough to make a pillow for a traveler's bed.
Commentary: Book Three Summer Poems 168

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Irises at a Traveler's Lodging' at the house of the Koga Palace Minister"
Composed at the residence of the Koga Palace Minister, Minamoto no Masamichi, on the topic "Irises at a Traveler's Lodging." People of the capital pull up all the irises to thatch their eaves for the Boys' Festival, but the poet asks that they leave at least enough to serve as a pillow for a traveler's bed. Drawing on the custom of laying irises under one's pillow on the fifth day of the Fifth Month, the poem expresses the feelings of a traveler meeting the festival away from home. Poems on irises begin here.
The author, "Former Middle Counselor Masayori," is Minamoto no Masayori, son of Provisional Middle Counselor Minamoto no Masakane, who rose to Provisional Middle Counselor.
This poem and the next two, through 170, form a sequence on the irises used for the festival of the fifth day of the Fifth Month.

First line, "miyakobito": an address, "people of the capital."
Second line, "hiki na tsukushi so": "na ... so" forms a prohibition: "do not pull them all up." The poem pauses here.
Third line, "ayamegusa": the iris thatched on the eaves or worn on the body at the festival. The next poem, 169, also places "ayamegusa" in its third line.
Fourth line, "tabine no toko no": "of a bed on a journey," expressing the headnote's "traveler's lodging."
Fifth line, "makura bakari wa": "bakari" marks degree: "at least as much as makes a pillow." It is inverted with the second line.
Author: Minamoto no Masayori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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