Tatsutagawa kishi no magaki o miwataseba iseki no nami ni magau u no hana

竜田川岸の籬を見渡せば
井堰の波にまがふ卯の花

Roma-ji: Tatsutagawa kishi no magaki o miwataseba iseki no nami ni magau u no hana
English Translation: Tatsuta River:
as I look along the fence
standing on its bank,
mingling with the weir's white waves,
the deutzia blossoms there.
Meaning: When I look out over the fences along the banks of the Tatsuta River, the deutzia blossoms are so white they can hardly be told from the waves foaming at the weir.
Commentary: Summer Poems 176

Headnote: "Deutzia blossoms above the water"
The topic, deutzia above the water, asks for the flower blooming at the water's edge. The white deutzia along the fences on the banks of the Tatsuta River are so white that they cannot be told from the white waves rising at the weir; the poem likens the whiteness of the flowers to that of the waves.
The Tatsuta River is a famous poetic place known for autumn leaves, but here it is paired with the summer deutzia, painting a scene all in white quite unlike the crimson of autumn. The next poem also likens the deutzia to white cloth, so the sequence continues with images of the white flower.

First line, “Tatsutagawa”: a poetic place in Yamato, famous for its autumn foliage.
Second line, “kishi no magaki o”: magaki is a loosely woven fence of bamboo or brushwood; deutzia was often planted along such fences.
Third line, “miwataseba”: the perfective form with ba, meaning when I look out over it.
Fourth line, “iseki no nami ni”: iseki is a weir built to draw water from the river, and the waves are the white water foaming there.
Fifth line, “magau u no hana”: the poem ends on a noun, showing deutzia so white it is indistinguishable from the waves. The verb magau returns in the first line of the next poem, linking the two.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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