Sumu hito mo naki yado naredo hagi no ha no tsuyu o tazunete aki wa kinikeri

住む人もなき宿なれど萩の葉の
露を尋ねて秋は来にけり

Roma-ji: Sumu hito mo naki yado naredo hagi no ha no tsuyu o tazunete aki wa kinikeri
English Translation: Though this is a house
where not a soul is dwelling,
to the clover leaves,
seeking out the dew that's there,
autumn now has come at last.
Meaning: Though no one lives in this house, autumn has come, seeking out the dew on the bush-clover leaves.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 186

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "A poem of early autumn"
Even to a house where no one lives, autumn has come, as if to seek out the dew on the bush-clover leaves. In the conceit of an autumn that comes calling not on people but on dew, the loneliness of the empty house and the faithfulness of the turning season both come through.
The Teika text gives line 3 as ogi no ha no, "the reed leaves." Kamo no Mabuchi judged line 4 to be in the manner of later times. In the source text consulted, characters in line 4 are missing and have been supplied from the Teika text's tsuyu o tazunete.

Line 1, "where no one lives," takes up "every trace vanished" in the preceding poem, 185, showing a house without inhabitants.
Line 2: do is concessive, "though it is such a house."
Line 3 names the leaves of the bush clover, emblem of the autumn fields. Bush clover is sung often in this section from 204 on.
Line 4, "seeking out the dew," personifies autumn, taking up the dew of "dwelling of dew" in the preceding poem.
Line 5 is the same last line as the preceding poem, binding the pair on autumn visiting an empty house.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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