Yamabito no mukashi no ato o kite mireba munashiki yuka o harau tanikaze - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

山人の昔の跡を来て見れば
むなしき床を払ふ谷風

Roma-ji: Yamabito no mukashi no ato o kite mireba munashiki yuka o harau tanikaze
English Translation: When I come to see
the traces of the hermit
from the days of old,
over the deserted floor
sweeps the valley wind alone
Meaning: When I come to see the dwelling the mountain hermit left long ago, there is only the valley wind sweeping across his empty floor.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1039

Headnote: "Composed on the same Ryūmonji"
Like the preceding poem, this one was composed on Ryūmonji as its topic. Coming to see the hermit's traces of old, I find the valley wind sweeping the empty floor, he says. Even visiting the place where a hermit once lived, there is now only a masterless floor swept by the valley wind, depicting the desolation of a legendary place.
The author, "Fujiwara no Kiyosuke, Lord," was a son of Fujiwara no Akisuke. He brought the poetic learning of the Rokujō Fujiwara house to completion and wrote works of poetics such as the Fukurozōshi and the Ōgishō. A poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
Like the preceding poem, 1038, it sings of Ryūmonji and shares the word "ato," trace. Where the preceding poem wittily says no trace can be seen because the hermit traveled by crane, this one sings of the emptiness of the traces left behind, so that the same hermit's realm is depicted in contrast.

First line, "yamabito no": "yamabito" means one who lives in the mountains, here a hermit.
Second line, "mukashi no ato o": "the traces where he once lived." It answers "ato dani hito wa" in the fourth line of the preceding poem, 1038.
Third line, "kite mireba": "when I come and see."
Fourth line, "munashiki yuka o": "the empty floor without its master."
Fifth line, "harau tanikaze": "the valley wind sweeping it," ending in a noun.
Author: Fujiwara no Kiyosuke
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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