Makoto ni ya mitose mo matade Yamashiro no Fushimi no sato ni niimakura suru - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

まことにや三年も待たで山城の
ふしみの里に新枕する

Roma-ji: Makoto ni ya mitose mo matade Yamashiro no Fushimi no sato ni niimakura suru
English Translation: Can it be the truth
that, not waiting even three years,
in Yamashiro,
in Fushimi, the village where you lie,
you share a new pillow now?
Meaning: Can it be true that, without waiting even three years, you are sharing a new pillow in the village of Fushimi in Yamashiro?
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 917

Headnote: "Sent to a woman named Iyo in the household of the Hanazono Minister of the Left, whom he had courted since he was still a Middle Counselor, when, after they had drifted apart and she had perhaps given up on him, he heard that she was seeing a man who had been Governor of Yamashiro"
He had courted a lady named Iyo who served in the household of Minamoto no Arihito, the Hanazono Minister of the Left, since the days when he was still a Middle Counselor, but they gradually drifted apart, and when he heard that she, having perhaps given up on him, was close to a man who had been Governor of Yamashiro, he sent this poem. Can it be true, he asks, that without waiting even three years you share a new pillow in the village of Fushimi in Yamashiro? Drawing on episode 24 of The Tales of Ise, in which a woman who had waited three years for her absent husband was about to share a new pillow with another man, he rebukes her for turning to a new man without waiting even three years. Weaving in "the village of Fushimi in Yamashiro" because the man had been Governor of Yamashiro is a further touch of wit.
After the poem the text adds, "Because he said this, she ended, to no purpose, by not meeting that man after all," telling that the woman who received the poem was never joined with the other man.
The author, "the Naka-no-in Minister of the Right," is Minamoto no Masasada. The son of Grand Minister Minamoto no Masazane, he rose to Minister of the Right and was called the Naka-no-in Minister of the Right.

First line, "makoto ni ya": "can it be true?", carrying both surprise and reproach as he checks a rumor heard from others. The poem pauses here.
Second line, "mitose mo matade": "de" is a negative conjunctive particle, "without waiting even three years." It draws on episode 24 of The Tales of Ise, in which a woman who had waited three years for her husband was about to share a new pillow.
Third line, "Yamashiro no": with the man having been Governor of Yamashiro in mind, it names the province of the village of Fushimi in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "Fushimi no sato ni": "fushimi" pivots between the place name Fushimi in Yamashiro and "fushi," "to lie down," echoing "niimakura" in the last line.
Fifth line, "niimakura suru": "niimakura" means a man and woman sleeping together for the first time. It draws on the last line of the woman's poem in episode 24 of The Tales of Ise, "niimakura sure."
Author: Minamoto no Masasada
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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