Yama fukami iwa ni shitaruru mizu tamen katsugatsu otsuru tochi hirou hodo

山深み岩に垂るる水溜めん
かつがつ落つる橡拾ふほど

Roma-ji: Yama fukami iwa ni shitaruru mizu tamen katsugatsu otsuru tochi hirou hodo
English Translation: The mountains so deep,
I'll store the water dripping
down from the rock face—
while I gather horse chestnuts
falling one by one to earth.
Meaning: Deep in the mountains, I will collect the water dripping from the rocks while I gather the horse chestnuts falling one by one.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1202

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sent from Kōya to the lay monk Jakunen when he was living in Ōhara"
The fifth of the ten. Deep in the mountains, he will collect water dripping from the rocks while gathering the horse chestnuts that fall here and there.
Horse chestnuts were eaten after being leached in water. Collecting the drips from the rock while gathering the nuts depicts a concrete task of frugal mountain life. Jakunen's 1214 sings of little chestnuts falling in the mountain wind, the two echoing an autumn village where nuts fall.

First line, “yama fukami”: since the mountains are deep, shared by the series.
Second line, “iwa ni shitaruru”: dripping from the rocks.
Third line, “mizu tamen”: n is volitional, "I will collect the water"; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “katsugatsu otsuru”: katsugatsu means little by little, one by one.
Fifth line, “tochi hirou hodo”: tochi are horse chestnuts; "while I gather them," the inversion giving the time.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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