Somakata ni michi ya madoeru saoshika no tsuma tou koe no shigeku mo aru kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

杣方に道やまどへるさを鹿の
妻問ふ声のしげくもあるかな

Roma-ji: Somakata ni michi ya madoeru saoshika no tsuma tou koe no shigeku mo aru kana
English Translation: Toward the timber hills
has it lost its way, I wonder,
the stag in the mountains,
the voice that seeks its mate
so often comes to me
Meaning: Has it lost its way toward the timber hills? Again and again I hear the stag crying out for its mate.
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems II 308

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed when a hundred-poem sequence was presented in the reign of Emperor Horikawa"
One of the poems presented in a hundred-poem sequence in the reign of Emperor Horikawa. The stag's cry for its mate is heard again and again, the poet says: has it lost its way toward the timber hills? Guessing at the reason for the many cries, he imagines the deer unable to reach its mate.
The author, "Major Counselor Kinzane," is Fujiwara no Kinzane, son of Provisional Major Counselor Fujiwara no Sanesue, who rose to Major Counselor. He was the father of Taikenmon'in Shōshi, consort of Emperor Toba, and one of the authors of the Horikawa Hyakushu.
Like the preceding poem, 307, it is drawn from the Horikawa Hyakushu, so that two poems on the deer's call for its mate stand side by side.

First line, "somakata ni": "soma" is a mountain where timber is cut, "toward the timber hills."
Second line, "michi ya madoeru": the interrogative "ya" closes with the attributive "madoeru," "has it lost its way?", and the poem pauses here.
Third line, "saoshika no": "sa" is a prefix, and "saoshika" means a stag.
Fourth line, "tsuma tou koe no": "tsuma tou" is to seek out a mate, answering "tsuma yobu shika no" in the preceding poem, 307.
Fifth line, "shigeku mo aru kana": "shigeku" means "incessantly," and "kana" is exclamatory. Showing how many the cries are, it gives the ground for the guess that the deer is lost.
Author: Fujiwara no Kinzane
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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