Tsuyu moranu iwaya mo sode wa nurekeri to kikazu wa ikaga ayashikaramashi

露漏らぬ岩屋も袖は濡れけりと
聞かずはいかがあやしからまし

Roma-ji: Tsuyu moranu iwaya mo sode wa nurekeri to kikazu wa ikaga ayashikaramashi
English Translation: 'Even in a cave
where no dew drips, the sleeves are wet,'
had I not heard that,
how strange a thing it would have
seemed to me, my sleeves soaked so.
Meaning: Had I not heard that even in a cave where no dew drips, one's sleeves were wet, how strange I would have found it.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 917

Headnote: "Going from Mitake to the Shō Cave, I recalled the time when someone had said 'a cave where no dew drips'"
Going from Mitake in the Ōmine range to the Shō Cave, the poet recalled the occasion when Gyōson composed 'a cave where no dew drips,' and wrote this. Gyōson's poem, made at the Shō Cave, is 'Kusa no io / nani tsuyukeshi to / omoiken / moranu iwaya mo / sode wa nurekeri.' Had I not heard that even in a cave where no dew drips the sleeves grow wet, how strange I would have found my own tear-soaked sleeves, he says, tasting the same emotion as Gyōson.

First line, “tsuyu moranu”: where no dew drips, taking up 'moranu iwaya' in Gyōson's poem.
Second line, “iwaya mo sode wa”: the cave, the Shō Cave in the Ōmine mountains.
Third line, “nurekeri to”: that they grew wet, drawing on the end of Gyōson's poem.
Fourth line, “kikazu wa ikaga”: had I not heard, how.
Fifth line, “ayashikaramashi”: mashi is counterfactual; how strange it would have seemed.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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