Fuetake no kochiku to nani ni omoiken tonari ni oto wa seshi ni zo arikeru - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

笛竹のこちくと何に思ひけん
隣におとはせしにぞありける

Roma-ji: Fuetake no kochiku to nani ni omoiken tonari ni oto wa seshi ni zo arikeru
English Translation: Like the flute bamboo,
"he comes this way," I thought,
but why did I think so?
It was next door, after all,
that the music came to call
Meaning: Like the flute bamboo called kochiku, I thought you were coming this way, but why did I think so? It was next door, after all, that your music sounded and your visits went.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1196

Headnote: "Sent when, while I was in retreat at the Kamo shrine, Masahira often came and amused himself composing poems and playing the flute; he came to know the person in retreat in the next room and went there too, but after that person left he did not come for a long time"
While the poet was in retreat at the Kamo shrine, Kamo no Masahira used to come often, composing poems, playing the flute and passing the time. Masahira also came to know the person in retreat in the neighboring room and went over there as well, but after that person left he stopped coming for a long while, so the poet sent him this poem. Why did I think, like the kochiku flute, that you came this way? It was next door that you made your sound, he says. Playing "kochiku," a bamboo used for flutes, against "kochi ku," coming this way, he teases Masahira with a flute-themed jest: he had mistakenly thought Masahira came to see him, when in fact he had been visiting the person next door.
The author, "Shinkaku Hōshi," was a monk of the late Heian period, but the details of his life are not known.
It is the seventeenth of the humorous poems. The Masahira of the headnote is Kamo no Masahira, author of 1189 in this book.

First line, "fuetake no": flute bamboo, drawing in "kochiku" in the second line. It is the same phrase as "fuetake no" in the first line of 1191 in this book, and both use wordplay drawn from the flute bamboo.
Second line, "kochiku to nani ni": "kochiku" plays on the bamboo used for flutes and on "kochi ku," coming this way.
Third line, "omoiken": "ken" is the conjectural past auxiliary, "why did I think so?" The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "tonari ni oto wa": "oto" plays on the sound of the flute and on a visit.
Fifth line, "seshi ni zo arikeru": "zo," an emphatic binding particle, closes with the attributive "keru." "It was next door that you made your sound," meaning Masahira had in fact been visiting the person next door.
Author: Shinkaku
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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