Wakareyuku miyako no kata no koishiki ni iza musubimimu Wasurei no mizu - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

別れ行く都の方の恋しきに
いざ結び見む忘井の水

Roma-ji: Wakareyuku miyako no kata no koishiki ni iza musubimimu Wasurei no mizu
English Translation: Since I long for
the capital I am leaving
farther and farther behind,
come, let me cup and drink
the water of Forgetting Well
Meaning: Because I long for the capital I am leaving behind, come, let me cup my hands and drink the water of the Well of Forgetting.
Commentary: Book Eight Travel Poems 507

Headnote: "Composed at a place called Wasurei, the Well of Forgetting, during the Ise Priestess's procession in the first year of Tennin"
Composed in 1108 at a place called Wasurei, the Well of Forgetting, during the procession of the Ise Priestess down to Ise. Because I long for the capital I am leaving behind, come, let me cup and drink the water of the Well of Forgetting, the poet says. Hoping that drinking might let her forget the capital, she entrusts her wish to the well's name and so reveals her longing.
The author, "Saigū no Kai," was a lady-in-waiting who served the Ise Priestess who went down to Ise in 1108; Kai was her court name.
The Ise Priestess was an unmarried imperial princess chosen at each new reign to serve the Ise Shrine, and her procession from the capital to Ise was called the gunkō. Wasurei was a well along the route, sung of in poetry as a spring of forgetting the capital because of its name.

First line, "wakareyuku": "parting and drawing away," modifying "miyako" in the second line.
Second line, "miyako no kata no": "in the direction of the capital."
Third line, "koishiki ni": "ni" gives the reason, "since I long for it."
Fourth line, "iza musubimimu": "iza" is an invitation, "musubu" means to scoop water in the hands, and "mu" expresses intention, "come, let me cup and drink it." The poem pauses here.
Fifth line, "Wasurei no mizu": the water of the Well of Forgetting on the procession route, ending on a noun. She entrusts her wish to forget her longing to a spring whose name means forgetting.
Author: Saigū no Kai
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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