Aki kureba yado ni tomaru o tabine nite nobe koso tsune no sumika narikere - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋来れば宿にとまるを旅寝にて
野辺こそ常の住処なりけれ

Roma-ji: Aki kureba yado ni tomaru o tabine nite nobe koso tsune no sumika narikere
English Translation: Since autumn has come,
to lodge at home is now
like sleeping on a journey,
and it is the open fields
that have become my dwelling
Meaning: Now that autumn has come, staying at my own house feels like sleeping on a journey, and the fields have become my usual home.
Commentary: Book Four Autumn Poems I 257

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Flowers of the Fields Detain a Guest'"
Composed on the topic "Flowers of the Fields Detain a Guest." When autumn comes, the poet, drawn by the flowers of the fields, goes out and does not return, so that the rare night spent at home feels like sleeping on a journey, and the fields have become his usual dwelling. With wit that reverses home and journey, he conveys the allure of the autumn flowers.
The author, "Minamoto no Toshiyori Ason," was the son of Major Counselor Minamoto no Tsunenobu. The central poet of Emperor Horikawa's poetry circle, he compiled the Kin'yō Wakashū at the command of Retired Emperor Shirakawa and wrote the treatise Toshiyori Zuinō. A poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Following "kokoro zo tomaru" in the preceding poem, 256, this poem also speaks of "tomaru" with "yado ni tomaru," showing how the flowers of the fields detain both heart and body.

First line, "aki kureba": "when autumn comes." Poem 242 of this book opens with the same line.
Second line, "yado ni tomaru o": "lodging at my own house," sharing "tomaru" with "kokoro zo tomaru" in the preceding poem, 256.
Third line, "tabine nite": "as a night on a journey," the reversal that treats staying at home as traveling.
Fourth line, "nobe koso tsune no": "koso" links with "kere" in the last line, stressing "it is the fields that are my usual."
Fifth line, "sumika narikere": "sumika" is a dwelling, and "kere," the realized form of "keri" expressing realization, closes with "koso." Making the fields his dwelling expresses the topic's "detaining a guest."
Author: Minamoto no Toshiyori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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