Hirosegawa watari no oki no mioshirushi mikasa zo fukaki samidare no koro

広瀬川渡りの沖の澪標
水嵩ぞ深き五月雨の頃

Roma-ji: Hirosegawa watari no oki no mioshirushi mikasa zo fukaki samidare no koro
English Translation: Hirose River:
at the ford, out in the stream,
the channel markers
tell how deep the water stands
in this time of summer rains.
Meaning: At the ford of the Hirose River, the channel markers out in the stream show how deep the water has grown in the early summer rains.
Commentary: Summer Poems 217

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When fifteen poems on the early summer rains were composed at a certain place, written on behalf of another"
This is the third of the fifteen poems. Seeing the channel markers set out in the stream at the ford of the Hirose River sunk deep in the water, the poet knows that the rains have swollen the river. The rising water is caught through the marker that shows boats their channel.
Like 208 of this book, which inferred the rising water from the waves caught on the timbers of Uji Bridge, this poem gauges the depth of the water by a structure standing in the river.

First line, “Hirosegawa”: a poetic place in Yamato, the upper reaches of the Yamato River.
Second line, “watari no oki no”: watari is a ford or ferry crossing, and oki the middle of the river away from the banks.
Third line, “mioshirushi”: stakes set up to mark the channel for boats; the noun gives the clue by which the depth of water in the fourth line is known.
Fourth line, “mikasa zo fukaki”: zo is answered by the attributive fukaki, stressing the depth of the water.
Fifth line, “samidare no koro”: the poem ends on a noun, closing with the line shared by the group of rain poems.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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