Warinashi ya kōru kakehi no mizu yue ni omoisuteteshi haru no mataruru

わりなしや氷る筧の水ゆゑに
思ひ捨ててし春の待たるる

Roma-ji: Warinashi ya kōru kakehi no mizu yue ni omoisuteteshi haru no mataruru
English Translation: How unreasonable!
because the water in my pipe
has frozen solid,
spring, which I had cast away,
I find myself awaiting.
Meaning: How hopeless it is: because the water in the bamboo pipe has frozen, I find myself waiting for the spring I had renounced.
Commentary: Winter Poems 571

Headnote: "Composed when, having left the world, I was living deep in Kurama, and the water pipe froze and no water came; I was told it would stay so until spring"
The headnote tells us this was composed when, having left the world, the poet was living deep in Kurama; the bamboo pipe froze and no water came, and he was told it would stay so until spring. Having cast away even his attachment to the turning seasons as one who had renounced the world, he finds himself waiting for spring because of the frozen water. He sings with self-mockery of how the inconvenience of daily life stirs a longing for spring that he cannot help.
Like 516 in this book, which ends with the moonlight being awaited, mataruru, on a cold night on the road, this poem ends with the spontaneous mataruru, telling of a heart that cannot help waiting because of the winter cold.

First line, “warinashi ya”: warinashi is to be unreasonable or helpless, and ya is exclamatory; the poem breaks after the first line.
Second line, “kōru kakehi no”: kakehi is a pipe of bamboo or wood laid across to bring water.
Third line, “mizu yue ni”: yue ni means because of, giving the reason.
Fourth line, “omoisuteteshi”: omoisutsu is to cast away attachment, and teshi is perfective and past, the spring he thought he had renounced.
Fifth line, “haru no mataruru”: ruru is the attributive of the spontaneous auxiliary ru, I cannot help but wait; ending in the attributive leaves a lingering feeling.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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