Kashikomaru shide ni namida no kakaru kana mata itsu ka wa to omou aware ni

かしこまる四手に涙のかかるかな
又いつかはと思ふあはれに

Roma-ji: Kashikomaru shide ni namida no kakaru kana mata itsu ka wa to omou aware ni
English Translation: Upon the paper streamers
I offer with bowed reverence,
how my tears fall down—
moved with sorrow, as I think,
"When might I come here again?"
Meaning: On the paper streamers I offer in deep reverence my tears fall, so moved am I by the thought, "When will I ever come here again?"
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1095

Headnote: "Following my old custom of serving at Kamo, I continued to visit even after leaving the world. Grown old and setting out on a pilgrimage to Shikoku, thinking I might never return, I went on the night of the tenth day of the tenth month of the second year of Nin'an and offered paper streamers. As a monk cannot enter the inner precinct, I asked at the Tanao shrine that they be passed on, and the moon glimmering through the trees seemed more sacred and moving than ever, so I composed this"
Keeping his old habit of worshipping at the Kamo Shrine even after taking vows, Saigyō, grown old and about to leave on a pilgrimage to Shikoku from which he might not return, went on the night of the tenth day of the tenth month of Nin'an 2 (1167) to offer streamers. Since a monk could not enter the inner precinct, he asked the Tanao shrine to pass them on, and as the moon glimmered faintly through the trees, more sacred than usual, he composed this: tears fall on the streamers he reverently offers, moved by the thought of when he might come again.
Before setting out for Shikoku, to visit the tomb of Retired Emperor Sutoku at Shiramine and the sites of Kōbō Daishi, he fills the poem with devout reverence for the gods and with an old man's uncertainty about life and death.

First line, “kashikomaru”: in awe and reverence, the attitude before the gods.
Second line, “shide ni namida no”: shide are paper streamers hung from offerings, here the offering itself.
Third line, “kakaru kana”: kana is exclamatory, "how my tears fall on them"; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “mata itsu ka wa to”: wondering when I might come again.
Fifth line, “omou aware ni”: in the sorrow of that thought, the inversion giving the cause of the tears at the end.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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