Saga no yama miyuki taenishi serikawa no chiyo no furumichi ato wa arikeri - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

嵯峨の山行幸絶えにし芹川の
千代の古道跡はありけり

Roma-ji: Saga no yama miyuki taenishi serikawa no chiyo no furumichi ato wa arikeri
English Translation: To Saga's mountains
royal journeys long had ceased—
yet by Seri River
the old road of a thousand years
still keeps its trace, I find
Meaning: The royal progresses of Emperor Saga's day had long since ceased, yet along the Seri River the ancient road of a thousand ages still keeps its trace, I find.
Commentary: Book Fifteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1075

Headnote: "On the day the Ninna Emperor made a royal progress to the Seri River, following the precedent of Emperor Saga's reign."
The poet says that on the old road to the Seri River, untraveled since Emperor Saga's progresses, the ancient trace still remained. With "ato" carrying both the trace of a road and a precedent, he celebrates Emperor Kōkō's progress after Saga's example as the revival of an old road.
According to the headnote, it was composed on the day the Ninna Emperor, Kōkō, made a progress to the Seri River after the precedent of Emperor Saga's reign. The progress included falconry, and the next poem is also Yukihira's from the same day, so the two stand side by side.
It is the opening poem of Miscellaneous Poems I, starting the book with a poem for the formal occasion of a royal progress. It contrasts with the closing poem, 1124, which ends the book lamenting a rank that will not rise, so the joys and sorrows of serving at court frame the book.
The poet, Ariwara no Yukihira, was a son of Prince Abo, son of Emperor Heizei, and an elder half-brother of Ariwara no Narihira. He rose to Middle Counselor and founded the Shōgakuin for the young men of his clan. The Ogura Hyakunin Isshu includes his poem "Tachiwakare inaba no yama no mine ni ouru."

The first line, "Saga no yama," opens by pointing to Emperor Saga, calling up the progresses of his reign.
The second line, "miyuki taenishi," means "where royal progresses had ceased," with "nishi" combining the perfective "nu" and the attributive of the past auxiliary "ki." It tells how no progress had come here for long after Saga.
The third line, "serikawa no," means "of the Seri River," a river in Yamashiro known as a place for falconry.
The fourth line, "chiyo no furumichi," means "the old road of a thousand ages," overlaying the long-used road of royal progress with the sense of an old precedent.
The last line, "ato wa arikeri," means "its trace remained after all," with "keri" expressing the wonder of discovery. "Ato" joins the trace of the road and Emperor Saga's precedent, celebrating the revival of the progress.
Author: Ariwara no Yukihira
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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