Mukashi kiku ama no kawara o tazunekite ato naki mizu o nagamu bakari zo - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

昔聞く天の河原を尋ね来て
跡なき水を眺むばかりぞ

Roma-ji: Mukashi kiku ama no kawara o tazunekite ato naki mizu o nagamu bakari zo
English Translation: The Heavenly Riverbank
of which I heard in olden tales—
seeking it I've come,
but on waters without trace
I can only gaze, no more.
Meaning: Seeking out the Heavenly Riverbank I heard of in old tales, I can only gaze upon waters that keep no trace.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1654

Headnote: "On passing the Heavenly Riverbank."
This is the first poem of a sequence on the Heavenly River. Having sought out the Heavenly Riverbank known from old tales, the poet can only gaze at waters that keep no trace. According to the headnote, it was composed when he passed by the Heavenly Riverbank.
The author, "Sesshō Daijō-daijin," is Fujiwara no Yoshitsune. A son of Kujō Kanezane, he rose to Regent and Chancellor. He wrote the Kana Preface of the Shin Kokinshū.
The Heavenly Riverbank is at Katano in Kawachi Province, around present-day Hirakata, Osaka. Episode 82 of The Tales of Ise tells how a man attending Prince Koretaka's hunt at Katano composed "Karikurashi / tanabatatsume ni / yado karamu / ama no kawara ni / ware wa kinikeri" ("Having hunted all day, I shall ask the Weaver Maid for lodging, for I have come to the Heavenly Riverbank").

The first line, "mukashi kiku," means "which I have heard of from old," referring to the tale of Prince Koretaka's hunt in The Tales of Ise.
The second line, "ama no kawara o," means "the Heavenly Riverbank" at Katano in Kawachi, a place bearing the same name as the Heavenly River of Tanabata.
The third line, "tazunekite," means "having come seeking it."
The fourth line, "ato naki mizu o," means "waters that keep no trace" of the people of old. Upon the water flowing away is laid the vanished past.
The last line, "nagamu bakari zo," means "I can only gaze." Closing with the particle "zo," it shows a heart that can do nothing but remember the past. From the falls of the preceding sequence, it moves to the stream of the Heavenly Riverbank.
Author: Fujiwara no Yoshitsune
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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