classic waka stream

濡るともと陰を頼みて思ひけん
人の跡踏む今日にもあるかな
Roma-ji

Nuru tomo to kage o tanomite omoiken hito no ato fumu kyō ni mo aru kana

English Translation
Though it soak me through,
trusting in the blossoms' shade,
so one thought, they say:
in that person's steps you tread
on this very day, it seems.
Meaning
Even if I get wet, one poet once thought, trusting in the shelter of the blossoms. Today, it seems, you are following in that person's footsteps.
Commentary
Spring Poems 103

Headnote: "To someone who, while it was raining, stopped a carriage beneath the blossoms to gaze at them"
According to the headnote, the poet addressed this to someone who had stopped a carriage beneath the blossoms in the rain to gaze at them. He praises the person's elegance: you are today following just in the footsteps of the one of old who thought it fine to get wet if it meant sheltering in the blossoms' shade.
The poem draws on an anonymous poem in the Shūi Wakashū, which says that since the rain has come on a cherry outing, one may as well get wet and hide in the shade of the flowers. Overlaying the elegance of the old poem with the person before him, the poet savors the charm of viewing blossoms in the rain.

First line, “nuru tomo to”: even if I get wet, quoting nuru tomo from the source poem.
Second line, “kage o tanomite”: relying on the shade of the blossoms.
Third line, “omoiken”: ken conveys report or conjecture about the past, who is said to have thought so, pointing to the author of the source poem.
Fourth line, “hito no ato fumu”: following that person's precedent.
Fifth line, “kyō ni mo aru kana”: so it is today, closing with the exclamatory kana, moved that the old elegance lives again.
Author
Saigyō
Source
Sankashu
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