Hanasusuki kokoroate ni zo wakete yuku hono mishi michi no ato shi nakereba

花薄心あてにぞ分けて行く
ほの見し道の跡しなければ

Roma-ji: Hanasusuki kokoroate ni zo wakete yuku hono mishi michi no ato shi nakereba
English Translation: Through the pampas plumes,
going on by guess alone,
I part a pathway,
for the trace of road I glimpsed
can no longer now be seen.
Meaning: I push my way through the plumed pampas grass, guessing my way as I go, for the faint trace of the path I once glimpsed is gone.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 274

Headnote: "Pampas grass grown thick across the road"
The topic is pampas grass growing thick across the road. The plumed grass has covered the path, and the trace of the road once faintly seen is gone, so the poet pushes through the grass, guessing at the way. It pictures one feeling his way along a moorland path buried in pampas grass.
Hono mishi plays on hono, faintly, and ho, the plume of the pampas grass, linking it to hanasusuki. Following the pampas plumes of the preceding poem, this one shifts the focus to pampas grass blocking the way.

First line, “hanasusuki”: pampas grass in plume, answering the topic.
Second line, “kokoroate ni zo”: kokoroate is a guess, an estimate, and zo forms a kakari-musubi with yuku in the third line.
Third line, “wakete yuku”: the attributive form answering zo, I go on parting the grass; the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “hono mishi michi no”: hono is a pivot word meaning faintly and recalling ho, the plume of the pampas grass, of the path faintly glimpsed.
Fifth line, “ato shi nakereba”: shi is emphatic, since there is no trace of the path, giving afterward by inversion the reason for the third line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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