Samidare no hikazu henureba karitsumishi shizuya no kosuge kuchi ya shinuran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

五月雨の日数経ぬれば刈りつみし
賤屋の小菅朽ちやしぬらん

Roma-ji: Samidare no hikazu henureba karitsumishi shizuya no kosuge kuchi ya shinuran
English Translation: Now that the summer rains
have gone on for many days,
the little sedge
the peasants cut and stacked
must surely have rotted away
Meaning: Now that the early summer rains have gone on for so many days, the sedge the peasants cut and stacked must surely have rotted away.
Commentary: Book Three Summer Poems 181

Headnote: "Composed when presenting a hundred-poem sequence to Retired Emperor Sutoku"
Composed for a hundred-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku. With the summer rains falling for so many days, the poet supposes that the sedge the peasants cut and stacked in their houses must have rotted by now. By imagining grasses decaying in the damp of the long rains, the poem conveys both the length of the rainy season and its effect on people's lives.
The author, "Master of the Left Capital Office Akisuke," is Fujiwara no Akisuke, son of Fujiwara no Akisue, Master of the Office of Palace Repairs. He served as Master of the Left Capital Office and rose to Senior Third Rank. He compiled the Shika Wakashū at Retired Emperor Sutoku's command, and a poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
This poem and the four that follow, through 185, are all summer-rain poems from the Kyūan Hundred-Poem Sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku.

First line, "samidare no": modifies "hikazu," days, in the second line.
Second line, "hikazu henureba": "nure" is the realized form of the perfective "nu," forming with "ba" a realized condition: "since many days have passed."
Third line, "karitsumishi": "shi" is the attributive past auxiliary: "that they cut and stacked."
Fourth line, "shizuya no kosuge": "shizuya" is a humble person's house and "kosuge" sedge, used for hats and raincoats. Like "shizu no iori" in 178 of this book, it thinks of the summer rain falling on the homes of humble folk.
Fifth line, "kuchi ya shinuran": the interrogative "ya" and "ran," the attributive of present conjecture, form a linked construction: "has it rotted away?" "Hosade kutashitsu" in 184 and "kuchinikeri" in 185 of this book also tell of things rotting in the summer rains.
Author: Fujiwara no Akisuke
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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