Even if forgot,
will a traveler draw and drink
from Tamagawa—
in the depths of Mount Kōya,
these waters of Tamagawa?

Meaning

I fear that a traveler, forgetting the poison said to be in this stream, might draw and drink from it—the waters of Tamagawa in the depths of Mount Kōya.

Commentary

Volume Three, Butsuhōsō.

This poem is said to have been composed by Kōbō Daishi. It may be taken as an expression of the Great Master’s compassionate concern for the fate of travelers.

The parent and child, Yumenen and his son, who had been chanting sutras through the night on Mount Kōya, encountered the party of Kanpaku Hideitsugu.

Author

Ueda Akinari

Source

Ugetsu Monogatari

Other

At Matsunoo peak, in the quiet dawn of light, I lift my gaze— listening as I look up, the Butsuhōsō cries.
Even birds’ cries, too— the thickets of the secret mountain of vows.
In anguish falls this rain that pours and pours— Miwa’s cape; at Sano’s crossing there is not even a house at all.
When spring has come, will it be seen as flowers? On white snow clinging to the branches, the bush warbler cries.

Even if forgot, will a traveler draw and drink from Tamagawa— in the depths of Mount Kōya, these waters of Tamagawa?

Even if forgot,
will a traveler draw and drink
from Tamagawa—
in the depths of Mount Kōya,
these waters of Tamagawa?