Iwayato ni tateru matsu no ki na o mireba mukashi no hito o aimiru gotoshi

石室戸に立てる松の木汝を見れば
昔の人を相見るごとし

Roma-ji: Iwayato ni tateru matsu no ki na o mireba mukashi no hito o aimiru gotoshi
English Translation: At the rock cave's door
the pine tree standing there—
when I look at you,
it is as if I were meeting
with the one of long ago.
Meaning: Pine tree standing at the mouth of the rock cave, when I look at you it is as though I were meeting the one who lived here long ago.
Commentary: Book Three Miscellaneous Poems 309

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Three poems composed by the monk Hakutsū on going to the province of Kii and seeing the rock cave of Miho"
This is the last of Hakutsū's three poems, closing the sequence. Calling to the old pine at the mouth of the cave, the poet sees in its long-enduring form the image of the one who once lived there. Following the lament for human transience in the preceding poem, he overlays the long-lived pine with the person of old, expressing his longing for the one who is gone.
The monk Hakutsū's three poems form a sequence written on visiting the rock cave of Miho in Kii, recalling Kume no Wakugo, who was said to have lived there.
The poet, the monk Hakutsū, lived in the Nara period, but little is known of him.

First line "At the rock cave's door": iwayato is the entrance of the cave.
Second line "the pine tree standing there": ru is the attributive of the continuative ri.
Third line "when I look at you" addresses the pine as "you"; the line has one syllable too many.
Fourth line "with the one of long ago" refers to Kume no Wakugo, who lived in the cave.
Fifth line "it is as if I were meeting" ends by seeing the pine as a keepsake of the man of old.
Author: Hakutsū
Source: Manyoshu
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