Waga koma o shibashi to karu ka Yamashiro no Kohata no sato ni ari to kotaeyo - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

わが駒をしばしとかるかやましろの
木幡の里にありと答へよ

Roma-ji: Waga koma o shibashi to karu ka Yamashiro no Kohata no sato ni ari to kotaeyo
English Translation: This horse of mine,
you would borrow for a while?
Then say it is kept
in Yamashiro, at the village
of Kohata, far away
Meaning: You would borrow my horse for a while? Then tell them it is kept at the village of Kohata in Yamashiro.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1173

Headnote: "Karukaya, the bush grass"
This is a hidden-name poem, concealing the word "karukaya" across "karu ka" in the second line and "Yamashiro" in the third. You would borrow my horse for a while? Answer that it is at the village of Kohata in Yamashiro, he says. He fends off someone who has come to borrow his horse by saying it is at Kohata, drawing on an old poem that links the village of Kohata with horses. In the Shūi Wakashū there is a poem by Kakinomoto no Hitomaro saying that he has a horse at the village of Kohata in Yamashina, yet he came on foot, thinking of you.
The author, "Minamoto no Toshiyori Ason," was a son of the Major Counselor Minamoto no Tsunenobu. He was active in the poetry circle of Emperor Horikawa and compiled the Kin'yō Wakashū at the command of Retired Emperor Shirakawa.
It is the fifth poem of the hidden-name series.

First line, "waga koma o": "my horse."
Second line, "shibashi to karu ka": "karu" is to borrow, "you would borrow it, saying for a while?" with "ka" an interrogative final particle. The poem pauses here. From "karu ka" into the next line lies hidden "karukaya."
Third line, "Yamashiro no": the province of Yamashiro.
Fourth line, "Kohata no sato ni": Kohata is a place in Yamashiro on the way from Yamashina to Uji, a village sung of with horses in an old poem.
Fifth line, "ari to kotaeyo": "answer that it is there," closing in the imperative.
Author: Minamoto no Toshiyori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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