Chigirikemu kore ya mukashi no yado naramu asaji ga hara ni uzura naku nari

契りけむこれや昔の宿ならむ
浅茅が原に鶉鳴くなり

Roma-ji: Chigirikemu kore ya mukashi no yado naramu asaji ga hara ni uzura naku nari
English Translation: We pledged our vows—
could this then be the house
of long ago?
On the moor of low reeds
a quail is crying out.
Meaning: Could this be the house of long ago where we pledged ourselves? On the moor of low reeds a quail is crying.
Commentary: Love Poems 554

Headnote: "On a vow that came to nothing"
Could this be the house where they once pledged their love? Now it is a moor of low reeds where only a quail cries; the poet laments a vow come to nothing.
The Ruijū text titles it "Composed on a vow that came to nothing" and places it in the miscellaneous section.

Line 1 means "where we pledged," kemu expressing past report or conjecture.
Line 2: ya is an interrogative binding particle concluded by mu in line 3.
Line 3 means "could it be the house?" and the poem pauses here.
Line 4 means "on the moor of low reeds," taking up the reed dew of the preceding poem.
Line 5 means "a quail seems to cry," nari inferring from sound; the quail was a bird of desolate fields.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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