Asate hosu Azuma otome no kayamushiro shikishinobite mo sugusu koro kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

麻手干す東乙女の萱筵
しきしのびても過ぐす頃かな

Roma-ji: Asate hosu Azuma otome no kayamushiro shikishinobite mo sugusu koro kana
English Translation: Drying out the hemp,
the maiden of the East spreads
her mat of sedge—
so ever spread in secret longing
I pass these days of mine
Meaning: Like the sedge mat spread by a maiden of the East as she dries her hemp, I spend these days ever spread out in hidden longing.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 789

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the heart of love when hundred-poem sequences were presented in the reign of Emperor Horikawa"
Like the preceding poem, a love poem from the Horikawa sequences. Like the sedge mat of an Eastland maiden drying hemp, he says, these days I pass ever spread out in secret longing. The upper half paints a rustic scene of a simple country girl of the East drying hemp and spreading a sedge mat, then turns from "shiki," spreading the mat, to "shikishinobu," to keep hiding love, portraying days of hidden longing.
The author, "Minamoto no Toshiyori Ason," was the son of Major Counselor Minamoto no Tsunenobu. A central figure of Emperor Horikawa's poetic circle, he compiled the Kin'yō Wakashū at the command of Retired Emperor Shirakawa. His personal collection is the Sanboku Kika Shū.
This poem closes the three love poems from the Horikawa sequences. The mandarin duck two poems before, the spool of the preceding poem and the sedge mat here continue the device of entrusting love to familiar things and scenes.

First line, "asate hosu": "asate" is hemp, "drying hemp," painting the simple life of the East.
Second line, "Azuma otome no": "Azuma otome" is a maiden of the eastern provinces.
Third line, "kayamushiro": a mat woven of sedge, which leads through "shiku," "to spread" a mat, into "shiki" in the fourth line. The lines up to here form a preface.
Fourth line, "shikishinobite mo": pivoting between "shiki," spreading the mat, and "shikishinobu," "to keep hiding one's longing."
Fifth line, "sugusu koro kana": "kana" is an exclamatory particle, "such are the days I pass."
Author: Minamoto no Toshiyori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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