Ashitazu ni norite kayoeru yado nareba ato dani hito wa mienu narikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

葦鶴に乗りて通へる宿なれば
跡だに人は見えぬなりけり

Roma-ji: Ashitazu ni norite kayoeru yado nareba ato dani hito wa mienu narikeri
English Translation: Since this dwelling was
visited by one who came
riding on a crane,
not even a single footprint
can be seen by any man
Meaning: Since this was a dwelling visited by one who came and went riding on a crane, not even a footprint is to be seen by anyone.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1038

Headnote: "Written in the hermit's chamber when I visited Ryūmonji"
This poem was written in the chamber where a hermit is said to have lived, when the author visited Ryūmonji. Since it was a dwelling reached by riding a crane, not even a footprint can be seen, he says. Ryūmonji was a temple at Yoshino in Yamato, said to have been the home of mountain hermits. Since the hermits traveled through the sky on cranes, no footprint remains on the ground, and he wittily sings of the mystery of the legendary place.
The author, "Priest Nōin," had the lay name Tachibana no Nagayasu. He took vows and traveled the provinces, visiting many famous places of poetry. 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.
The next poem, 1039, also sings of Ryūmonji and shares the word "ato," trace. Where this poem says not even a trace can be seen, the next says the valley wind sweeps the empty traces. And by singing of Ryūmonji at Yoshino, it is linked by place to the Yoshino falls of 1034.

First line, "ashitazu ni": "ashitazu" means a crane of the reedy shore, a poetic word for crane.
Second line, "norite kayoeru": "ru" is the attributive of the continuative "ri," "that came and went riding," referring to the hermit traveling through the sky on a crane.
Third line, "yado nareba": "since it is the dwelling."
Fourth line, "ato dani hito wa": "dani" means even, "not even footprints to anyone." It answers "mukashi no ato o" in the second line of the next poem, 1039.
Fifth line, "mienu narikeri": "nari" is the copula and "keri" expresses exclamation at a realization, "they cannot be seen."
Author: Nōin
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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