a mother's longing for her child's return
A literary, classical expression evoking the image of a mother leaning against the village gate, waiting for her child. Rare in modern Japanese; mainly encountered in classical or poetic contexts. Compare 倚門の望.
See also: 倚門の望
「倚閭の望」 is a classical idiom expressing a mother's anxious waiting for her child's return.
From the story of 王孫賈’s mother in the Chinese classic 『戦国策』: she leaned against the neighborhood gate, anxiously awaiting her son’s return.