Magaki arete susuki naranedo karukaya mo shigeki nobe tomo narinikeru mono o

籬荒れて薄ならねど刈萱も
茂き野辺とも成りにけるものを

Roma-ji: Magaki arete susuki naranedo karukaya mo shigeki nobe tomo narinikeru mono o
English Translation: With the fence in ruin,
though it is not pampas grass,
the thatching grass too
has grown into a moorland
thick with weeds, as now I see.
Meaning: The woven fence has fallen to ruin, and though it is not pampas grass, the thatching grass too has grown until the place has become a thick, overgrown moor.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 275

Headnote: "Thatching grass by an old fence"
The topic is thatching grass growing by an old fence. With no one to tend it, the woven fence has fallen into ruin, and though it is not pampas grass, the thatching grass too has grown thick until the place has turned into an overgrown moor. The desolation of the dwelling is shown through the rampant grass.
The poem takes as its foundation a poem by Miharu no Aritsuke in the Kokin Wakashū, in which a clump of pampas grass planted by someone now gone has become a moor loud with insects, and it replaces the pampas grass of the original with thatching grass, saying it is not pampas grass. The fifth line of the text reads narinikeru mono o, which does not match narikeru mono o in the reading line; the text is followed here.

First line, “magaki arete”: the woven fence of bamboo or brushwood untended and fallen to ruin, answering the old fence of the topic.
Second line, “susuki naranedo”: though it is not pampas grass, drawing on the hitomura susuki of the foundation poem and noting that this grass differs.
Third line, “karukaya mo”: the thatching grass, an autumn plant resembling pampas grass, answering the topic.
Fourth line, “shigeki nobe tomo”: taken directly from the foundation poem, a moor grown thick with grass.
Fifth line, “narinikeru mono o”: a hypermetric line of eight syllables; ni is perfective, keri exclamatory and mono o an exclamatory ending, closing on feeling at the place having become a moor.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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