Michi mo nashi yado wa konoha ni uzumorete madaki sesasuru fuyugomori kana

道もなし宿は木の葉に埋もれて
まだきせさする冬籠りかな

Roma-ji: Michi mo nashi yado wa konoha ni uzumorete madaki sesasuru fuyugomori kana
English Translation: Not a path remains:
my hut beneath the fallen leaves
buried out of sight,
forced too soon upon me now,
this shut-in winter seclusion.
Meaning: There is no path left. My dwelling lies buried under fallen leaves, and I am made to begin my winter seclusion before its time.
Commentary: Winter Poems 494

Headnote: "Falling leaves at a mountain dwelling"
The topic is falling leaves at a mountain dwelling. The hut in the mountains is buried in fallen leaves, and even the path to it can no longer be seen. Before any snow has fallen, the leaves force the poet into his winter seclusion. Winter seclusion was usually brought on by snow, and the device lies in making fallen leaves its cause.
Poem 530 in this book tells of being shut in for the winter in an unexpected place when falling snow buries even the twigs that marked the path, so leaves and snow bring about the same winter seclusion in the two poems.

First line, “michi mo nashi”: there is no path; the poem breaks after the first line.
Second line, “yado wa konoha ni”: yado is the dwelling, and ni marks the cause, by the leaves.
Third line, “uzumorete”: completely covered and hidden.
Fourth line, “madaki sesasuru”: madaki is before the proper time. Sesasuru is the verb su with the causative sasu, the leaves making him go into seclusion.
Fifth line, “fuyugomori kana”: fuyugomori is staying shut in at home through the winter; the poem ends on a noun with exclamatory kana.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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