Misogi seshi Kamo no kawanami tachikaeri hayaku mishi se ni sode wa nureki ya - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

禊せし賀茂の川波立ちかへり
はやく見し瀬に袖は濡れきや

Roma-ji: Misogi seshi Kamo no kawanami tachikaeri hayaku mishi se ni sode wa nureki ya
English Translation: Like the river waves
of Kamo, where the rite was done,
returning once again,
in the shallows seen long since
did your sleeves not grow wet?
Meaning: Like the waves of the Kamo River where the purification was held, you have returned once more; at the shallows you once saw long ago, were your sleeves not wet with tears?
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 969

Headnote: "Sent the next day when I heard that Ukon, who had served Princess Senshi, had gone to serve the next Kamo Priestess and would ride in a display carriage at the purification"
Hearing that Ukon, a lady who had served Princess Senshi, had gone to serve the succeeding Kamo Priestess and would ride in a display carriage in the procession for the purification rite, the author sent this poem the next day. Like the waves of the Kamo River where the rite was held, you have returned; did your sleeves not grow wet at the shallows you saw long ago, she asks. Imagining the feelings of Ukon, who once watched the purification at the Great Priestess's side and now saw it again under a new priestess, she asks whether her sleeves were wet with tears of longing for the past.
The author, "Daisaiin no Chūjō," was a lady who served the Great Priestess, Princess Senshi, and was known as Chūjō.
Following the preceding poem, 968, by the Great Priestess Princess Senshi, a poem by one of her ladies is placed here.

First line, "misogi seshi": "where the purification was held," referring to the rite the Kamo Priestess performs in the Kamo River.
Second line, "Kamo no kawanami": the waves of the Kamo River, the site of the purification.
Third line, "tachikaeri": layering the returning of the waves with going back to one's former place, it expresses Ukon's return to the priestess's service.
Fourth line, "hayaku mishi se ni": "hayaku" means formerly, long ago, echoing the rapids of the river. "Shi" is the attributive of the past auxiliary "ki," "at the shallows you once saw."
Fifth line, "sode wa nureki ya": "ki" is the past auxiliary and "ya" an interrogative binding particle, "were your sleeves wet with tears?"
Author: Daisaiin no Chūjō
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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