Kozasa shiku furusato ono no michi no ato o mata sawa ni nasu samidare no koro

小笹敷く古里小野の道の跡を
また沢になす五月雨の頃

Roma-ji: Kozasa shiku furusato ono no michi no ato o mata sawa ni nasu samidare no koro
English Translation: Where the bamboo grass
spreads across the old home fields,
the traces of the path
once again become a marsh
in this time of summer rains.
Meaning: In the old village fields carpeted with bamboo grass, the early summer rains once again turn the traces of the path into a marsh.
Commentary: Summer Poems 210

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Early summer rains"
This is the fourth of the early summer rain poems. The rains once again flood the old village fields, where bamboo grass has spread and the traces of the path have grown faint, turning them into a marsh. The loneliness of a deserted village is laid over the long rains.
Following the preceding poem, in which the path between the stones sank beneath the water, this one tells of the traces of a path becoming a marsh, continuing the picture of the rains erasing the paths.

First line, “kozasa shiku”: little bamboo grass spreading over the ground.
Second line, “furusato ono no”: furusato is a deserted village where people once lived, and ono is a field.
Third line, “michi no ato o”: a line of six syllables, the remnants of a former path.
Fourth line, “mata sawa ni nasu”: turning it into a marsh yet again, as the rains drown the path year after year.
Fifth line, “samidare no koro”: the poem ends on a noun, using the same closing line as 207 of this book to link the group of rain poems.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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