Misogi suru Nara no ogawa no kawakaze ni inori zo wataru shita ni taeji to - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

禊するならの小川の川風に
祈りぞわたる下に絶えじと

Roma-ji: Misogi suru Nara no ogawa no kawakaze ni inori zo wataru shita ni taeji to
English Translation: Cleansing in the stream,
in the breeze off the river
at Nara's brooklet,
I go on and on in prayer:
let what lies beneath not break
Meaning: In the river breeze of the brook at Nara where I perform my rites of cleansing, I keep on praying: may our hidden bond never be broken.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Love Poems V 1376

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second poem of the sequence on sleeves and waters. Performing rites of cleansing at the Nara brook, the speaker keeps praying in the river breeze that the secret bond will not be broken. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Princess Yashiro," was a princess of the Nara period who served Emperor Shōmu.
Misogi is the rite of cleansing oneself in the water of a river or the like to purge sin and defilement. The Nara brook is a poetic site known as a name for the Mitarashi stream flowing through the grounds of Kamigamo Shrine in Kyoto.

The first line, "misogi suru," means "performing rites of cleansing in water."
The second line, "Nara no ogawa no," gives the place of the rite. From the dew on summer grass in the preceding poem, the scene moves to a riverbank at summer's end.
The third line, "kawakaze ni," means "in the wind crossing the river."
The fourth line, "inori zo wataru," means "I keep on praying." "Wataru" means continuing through time and, as a word associated with the river, also crossing. It closes the kakari-musubi of "zo" with the attributive "wataru." The poem breaks after the fourth line.
In the last line, "shita ni taeji to," "shita" means "deep in the heart, in secret," and also suggests the current beneath the water. "Tae" (break off) is an associated word, echoing a river's flow breaking off. Inverted from the fourth line, it sets the content of the prayer afterward.
Author: Princess Yashiro
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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