Aware tote tou hito no nado nakaruran mono omou yado no ogi no uwakaze

あはれとて問ふ人のなどなかるらん
物思ふ宿の荻の上風

Roma-ji: Aware tote tou hito no nado nakaruran mono omou yado no ogi no uwakaze
English Translation: Why is there no one
who, for pity, comes to call?
why should it be so?
to the house where I brood comes
only wind across the reeds.
Meaning: Why is there no one who comes to visit out of pity? To this house where I brood, only the wind over the reeds comes calling.
Commentary: Love Poems 705

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love"
Why is there no one who, out of pity, comes to visit the house where the poet sinks in the brooding of love? All that comes is the wind blowing over the leaves of the reeds. The loneliness of a house no one visits is heightened by the sound of the wind stirring the autumn reeds, a sound often sung as one that suggests a visitor.

First line, “aware tote”: out of pity.
Second line, “tou hito no nado”: tou is to visit, and nado is why.
Third line, “nakaruran”: ran is conjecture about a cause: why is there none? The poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “mono omou yado no”: of the house where I brood; the line has eight syllables, one too many.
Fifth line, “ogi no uwakaze”: uwakaze is wind blowing over the tops of leaves; ending on a noun, the sound of the wind in the reeds heightens the loneliness of a house no one visits.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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