Arisugawa onaji nagare wa kawaranedo mishi ya mukashi no kage zo wasurenu

English Translation

The Arisu River—
the same stream flows unchanged,
and yet the image
of long ago that I saw
I never can forget.

Meaning

The same stream of the Arisu River has not changed, yet I cannot forget the image of long ago that I once saw there.

Commentary

Book Eight Lament Poems 827

Headnote: "Said to a lady-in-waiting when, after Princess Teishi had passed away, I heard that Princess Sōshi had come to live there in her place and went to see it, and everything seemed unchanged, which made me recall the past all the more."
This is the first poem of the sequence on visits of mourning and condolence. It says that the stream of the Arisu River is unchanged, yet the image of long ago he once saw cannot be forgotten. According to the headnote, after Princess Teishi died he heard that Princess Sōshi had come to live there in her place, and on visiting found everything seemingly unchanged, which only made him recall the past, so he spoke this poem to a lady-in-waiting.
The son of Grand Minister Minamoto no Masazane, the author rose to Minister of the Right and was called the Naka no In Minister of the Right. "Princess Teishi" and "Princess Sōshi" were both imperial princesses.
The scene is the time after Princess Teishi's death, set at the princess's residence along the Arisu River.
The direct occasion is visiting Princess Teishi's residence and seeing it unchanged from before.
The Arisu River flows through Murasakino, north of the capital, near the residence of the Kamo Priestess, and it was sung of in connection with the Kamo Priestess.

The first line, "arisugawa," is the river flowing beside the princess's residence.
The second line, "onaji nagare wa," means "the same stream as before." "Wa" singles it out, setting it against "kage," image, in the lower verse.
In the third line, "kawaranedo," "ne" is the realis form of the negative "zu" and "do" is concessive, meaning "though it has not changed." It takes up "everything seemed unchanged" from the headnote.
In the fourth line, "mishi ya mukashi no," "ya" is exclamatory, meaning "of long ago that I once saw."
In the last line, "kage zo wasurenu," "kage" lays the reflection on the water over the likeness of the dead. "Zo" is an emphatic binding particle, completed by the attributive "nu." Though the stream is unchanged, the figure once reflected in it is gone. Taking up "nagarete tomaru" from the preceding poem, 826, it contrasts the unchanging stream with the absence of the person. It echoes 809 of this book, where a father's form could not be seen in the depths of the water, in seeking an image reflected in water.

Author

Minamoto no Masasada

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other