Karenikeru matsu naki ato no takekuma wa miki to iite mo kai nakaru beshi

枯れにける松なき跡の武隈は
みきと言ひてもかひなかるべし

Roma-ji: Karenikeru matsu naki ato no takekuma wa miki to iite mo kai nakaru beshi
English Translation: At Takekuma,
where the pine has withered now,
leaving but its place,
though I say "I saw" its trees,
it would be of no avail.
Meaning: At Takekuma, where only the site remains of the withered pine, even if I were to say I saw it, or speak of its twin trunks, it would mean nothing.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1128

Headnote: "The pine of Takekuma was a thing of the past, but I went to see at least its site and composed this"
The pine of Takekuma no longer stood, but Saigyō went to see at least the place where it had been. Where the pine has withered and gone, saying "I saw it," or "two trunks," would be of no use, he says.
The Takekuma pine was a poetic place of Michinoku known from Tachibana no Suemichi's "Takekuma no matsu wa futaki o miyakobito ikaga to towaba miki to kotaemu" (Goshūishū). Drawing on that precedent's pivot of miki on "I saw" and "two trunks," he laments that with the pine itself gone, answering that one saw it means nothing. Nōin, too, left a poem lamenting that no trace of the pine remained.

First line, “karenikeru”: withered away; nikeru combines perfective and past.
Second line, “matsu naki ato no”: of the site where the pine is gone.
Third line, “takekuma wa”: the Takekuma pine site, a poetic place in Michinoku.
Fourth line, “miki to iite mo”: miki pivots on "I saw" and the pine's "trunks," drawing on Suemichi's poem.
Fifth line, “kai nakaru beshi”: beshi is conjectural, "it would be useless."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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