Saga no yama chiyo no furumichi ato tomete mata tsuyu wakuru mochizuki no koma - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

嵯峨の山千代の古道跡とめて
また露分くるもちづきの駒

Roma-ji: Saga no yama chiyo no furumichi ato tomete mata tsuyu wakuru mochizuki no koma
English Translation: On Saga's mountain,
the ancient road of ages
following its trace,
again they part the dew—
the steeds of Mochizuki.
Meaning: Following the trace of the ancient road of a thousand ages in the Saga hills, the horses of Mochizuki once again part the dew beneath the full moon.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1646

Headnote: "When Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa was staying at Seikaji and I went there as envoy delivering horses from the Horse Presentation."
This is the second poem of the sequence on the mountains of Saga. Following the trace of the thousand-year-old road in the Saga hills, the horses of Mochizuki once again part the dew. According to the headnote, it was composed when the poet went as envoy delivering horses from the Horse Presentation to Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, who was staying at Seikaji.
The author, "Teika Ason," was a son of Fujiwara no Shunzei and one of the compilers of the Shin Kokinshū. He later compiled the Shin Chokusenshū alone.
Seikaji was a temple at Saga made from the mountain villa of Minamoto no Tōru. The Horse Presentation was a rite in the eighth month in which the emperor viewed horses presented from pastures across the provinces, those of the Mochizuki pasture in Shinano being the most renowned. The envoy for dividing the horses delivered the presented horses to the retired emperor and others.
The "ancient road of a thousand ages" in the second line draws on a poem by Ariwara no Yukihira in the Gosenshū: "Saga no yama / miyuki taenishi / Serikawa no / chiyo no furumichi / ato wa arikeri" ("In the Saga hills, by the Seri River where imperial outings have ceased, the traces of the ancient road of ages remain"). The road of former imperial outings is now trodden again by horses on their way to the retired emperor.

The first line, "Saga no yama," is the Saga hills where Seikaji stood. Following Mount Ogura in the preceding poem, the land of Saga is sung.
The second line, "chiyo no furumichi," is the old road of a thousand years, taking the words of the source poem unchanged. What the source poem called a road where imperial outings had ceased becomes here a road travelled again to the retired emperor.
The third line, "ato tomete," means "following its trace."
The fourth line, "mata tsuyu wakuru," means "again parting the dew." "Mata" shows that after the outings of old, the road is travelled once more.
The last line, "mochizuki no koma," pivots on "mochizuki," both the Mochizuki pasture of Shinano and the full moon of the season of the Horse Presentation. Ending in a noun, it closes on the horses going along the dewy old road on a moonlit night.
Author: Fujiwara no Teika
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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