Yama fukami naruru kasegi no kejikasa ni yo ni tōzakaru hodo zo shiraruru

山深み馴るる鹿の気近さに
世に遠ざかるほどぞ知らるる

Roma-ji: Yama fukami naruru kasegi no kejikasa ni yo ni tōzakaru hodo zo shiraruru
English Translation: The mountains so deep,
from how near the deer now come,
grown used to my ways,
I come to know how far
I have drawn away from the world.
Meaning: Deep in the mountains, from how close the deer now come, grown used to me, I can tell just how far I have withdrawn from the world.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1207

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sent from Kōya to the lay monk Jakunen when he was living in Ōhara"
The tenth and last of the series. Deep in the mountains, from the closeness of the deer that have grown used to him, he comes to know how far he has withdrawn from the world.
Setting nearness to the deer against distance from the world, the series closes with the feeling of a deepening renunciation. Jakunen's last poem, 1217, also sings of shika, deer, so the two series end in echo.

First line, “yama fukami”: since the mountains are deep, shared by the series.
Second line, “naruru kasegi no”: kasegi, written in the text, is an old word for deer; deer grown tame.
Third line, “kejikasa ni”: by their closeness, set against "drawing away" in the fourth line.
Fourth line, “yo ni tōzakaru”: withdrawing from the world.
Fifth line, “hodo zo shiraruru”: zo is emphatic, answered by the attributive shiraruru; ruru is spontaneous.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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