Nare kinishi miyako mo utoku narihatete kanashisa souru aki no kure kana

なれ来にし都もうとくなり果てて
悲しさ添ふる秋の暮かな

Roma-ji: Nare kinishi miyako mo utoku narihatete kanashisa souru aki no kure kana
English Translation: The capital, too,
where I lived so long at home,
has grown far from me,
and sorrow is only added
to the closing of the autumn.
Meaning: Even the capital I once knew so well has grown wholly distant, and it only adds to the sorrow of this autumn's ending.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1045

Headnote: "At the end of autumn, when Jakunen came to Kōya and we expressed our feelings on the late autumn"
When Jakunen visited Saigyō on Mount Kōya in late autumn and they voiced their feelings on the closing of the season, Saigyō composed this poem. In his seclusion on Kōya, the capital he once knew so well has become wholly estranged, and that estrangement adds yet more sorrow to the loneliness of the waning autumn.
One who should have cut off all thought of the capital, faced with a friend come from there, feels his distance from it all the more keenly. The closing of the season and the passing of a life are laid one over the other.

First line, “nare kinishi”: that I had grown familiar with; nishi combines perfective and past auxiliaries.
Second line, “miyako mo utoku”: utoku describes a closeness that has faded into estrangement.
Third line, “narihatete”: having become so entirely.
Fourth line, “kanashisa souru”: adding sorrow to the loneliness that autumn already brings.
Fifth line, “aki no kure kana”: kana is exclamatory; aki no kure suggests both the end of autumn and an autumn dusk.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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