classic waka stream

岩にむす苔踏みならすみ熊野の
山のかひある行く末もがな
Roma-ji

Iwa ni musu koke fuminarasu Mikumano no yama no kai aru yukusue mogana

English Translation
Moss that grows on rocks
trodden flat along the path
in sacred Kumano—
like the mountain's gorges, may
my future prove worth the climb.
Meaning
Treading flat the moss that grows upon the rocks of sacred Kumano's mountains—may my future prove worth it, as deep as these mountain gorges.
Commentary
Book Nineteen Poems on the Gods 1907

Headnote: "Offered when I visited Kumano."
This is the second poem in the sequence on Kumano. Playing on the gorges of the mountains of sacred Kumano, where the moss on the rocks is trodden flat, the poet prays for a future that makes the pilgrimage worthwhile. According to the headnote, it was offered when he visited Kumano. He prays to the god that the hardship of following the steep mountain paths will be rewarded.
The author, "Dajō Tennō," the Retired Emperor, is Go-Toba. A son of Emperor Takakura, he ruled as retired emperor after abdicating and ordered the compilation of the Shin Kokinshū.

The first line, "iwa ni musu," means "that grows on the rocks"; "musu" is a verb for moss and the like springing up.
The second line, "koke fuminarasu," means "treading the moss flat into a path," showing many pilgrimages made.
The third line, "Mikumano no," is an honorific name for Kumano.
In the fourth line, "yama no kai aru," "kai" is a pivot word joining "kai," a gorge between mountains, and "kai," worth or reward for the pilgrimage.
The last line, "yukusue mogana," means "may the future be so," closing with the desiderative particle "mogana." Retired Emperor Go-Toba's poem on Kumano follows Retired Emperor Shirakawa's in the preceding poem, so that poems on Kumano pilgrimages by two retired emperors stand side by side.
Author
Go-Toba In
Source
Shin Kokin Wakashu
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