Chihayaburu itsuki no miya no tabine ni wa aoi zo kusa no makura narikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

ちはやぶる斎の宮の旅寝には
あふひぞ草の枕なりけり

Roma-ji: Chihayaburu itsuki no miya no tabine ni wa aoi zo kusa no makura narikeri
English Translation: On this traveler's sleep
by the shrine of the Priestess
mighty with the gods,
it is hollyhock, the day we meet,
that makes my pillow of grass
Meaning: Sleeping away from home by the Priestess's shrine, I find that my pillow of grass is hollyhock, whose name speaks of the day we meet.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 970

Headnote: "Sent from my lodging at the shrine hall to a lady of the Kamo Priestess when I served as imperial envoy to the festival"
Serving as imperial envoy to the Kamo Festival, he sent this poem from his lodging at the shrine hall to a lady who served the Kamo Priestess. On my traveler's sleep by the Priestess's shrine, my pillow of grass is the hollyhock, he says. Seeing the hollyhock indispensable to the Kamo Festival as the grass pillow of a traveler, and letting "aoi" also mean "the day we meet," he hints at his longing for a day when he might meet the lady of the Priestess's court.
The author, "Fujiwara no Sanekata, Lord," was a son of Fujiwara no Sadatoki. He was adopted by his uncle Fujiwara no Naritoki and rose to middle captain of the Left Palace Guards, but later went down to Mutsu as governor and died there. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals of the Middle Ages, and a poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Following 968 and 969 of this book, poems concerning the Kamo Priestess stand together. Where the preceding poem sings of the Kamo River of the purification, this one sings of the hollyhock of the Kamo Festival.

First line, "chihayaburu": a pillow word modifying "god," here leading into the Priestess's shrine, which serves the gods.
Second line, "itsuki no miya no": "of the Kamo Priestess."
Third line, "tabine ni wa": sleeping away from home, referring to his lodging at the shrine hall as festival envoy.
Fourth line, "aoi zo kusa no": "aoi" is a pivot word meaning both the hollyhock used at the Kamo Festival and "au hi," the day of meeting. "Zo" is an emphatic binding particle.
Fifth line, "makura narikeri": "keri" expresses exclamation at a realization, "it is my pillow." Following "zo" in the fourth line, the ending would properly be the attributive "keru."
Author: Fujiwara no Sanekata
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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