Yama fukami sa koso arame to kikoetsutsu oto aware naru tani no kawamizu

山深みさこそあらめと聞こえつつ
音あはれなる谷の川水

Roma-ji: Yama fukami sa koso arame to kikoetsutsu oto aware naru tani no kawamizu
English Translation: The mountains so deep,
"so it must be," it seems to say,
as the sound comes to me—
how full of sorrow it sounds,
the river water in the vale.
Meaning: Deep in the mountains, its sound comes to me as if to say, "so it must be here," the moving voice of the river water in the valley.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1198

Headnote: "Sent from Kōya to the lay monk Jakunen when he was living in Ōhara"
This is the first of ten poems Saigyō sent from Mount Kōya to Jakunen in Ōhara. The mountains being deep, the river in the valley sounds as though saying "so it must be," its voice deeply moving.
All ten poems begin "Yama fukami," each taking up something of life deep in the mountains of Kōya to convey their solitude to his friend. Jakunen replied in 1208 onward with ten poems all ending "Ōhara no sato," and the two sets, Saigyō's with matching first lines and Jakunen's with matching last lines, form a celebrated exchange. The sound of the river here echoes "the sound of water" in Jakunen's 1212.

First line, “yama fukami”: mi expresses cause, "since the mountains are deep," the first line shared by all ten.
Second line, “sa koso arame to”: koso ... me forms a construction meaning "so it must be."
Third line, “kikoetsutsu”: heard thus.
Fourth line, “oto aware naru”: whose sound is moving.
Fifth line, “tani no kawamizu”: ending on a noun, the sound of the valley stream lingers.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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