Mukashi mishi nonaka no shimizu kawaraneba waga kage o mo ya omoiizuran

昔見し野中の清水変はらねば
我が影をもや思ひ出づらん

Roma-ji: Mukashi mishi nonaka no shimizu kawaraneba waga kage o mo ya omoiizuran
English Translation: Since it has not changed,
the spring amid the moorland
that I saw long ago,
might it too be recalling
the reflection I once cast?
Meaning: Since the clear spring in the moor that I saw long ago has not changed at all, might it too remember the reflection I once cast upon it?
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1096

Headnote: "It had been a decade since I saw the clear spring of Nonaka on my way to Shosha in Harima. Years later, passing by on a pilgrimage, I found it just as it had been, unchanged"
On his way to Mount Shosha in Harima, Saigyō had once seen the clear spring of Nonaka, a good ten years before. Passing again on pilgrimage years later, he found it unchanged and composed this: since the spring is as it was, might it too remember the reflection he once cast upon its waters?
The Nonaka spring was a poetic place in Harima known from the Kokinshū poem "Inishie no nonaka no shimizu nurukeredo." The unchanging spring is set against the poet, aged and changed, and the spring is personified in his longing for the past.

First line, “mukashi mishi”: shi is the attributive of the past ki, "that I saw long ago."
Second line, “nonaka no shimizu”: the famous clear spring said to be on the Inami moor in Harima, a poetic place.
Third line, “kawaraneba”: because it has not changed; the realis with ba forms a definite condition.
Fourth line, “waga kage o mo ya”: kage is a reflection on water; ya questions, answered by the attributive ran.
Fifth line, “omoiizuran”: ran conjectures, "might it be recalling," the spring personified.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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