君住まぬ御内は荒れて有栖川
忌む姿をも映しつるかな
忌む姿をも映しつるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Kimi sumanu miuchi wa arete arisugawa imu sugata o mo utsushitsuru kana
- English Translation
-
Where you dwell no more,
the palace has gone to ruin—
the Arisu stream
now reflects even the form
once forbidden in its precinct.
- Meaning
- With you no longer living there, the palace grounds lie in ruin, and the Arisu stream now reflects even the forbidden figure of a monk.
- Commentary
-
Miscellaneous Poems 1224
Headnote: "After the Kamo Priestess had stepped down, I passed before her former palace and, seeing people going in, I wished to see it and went in with them. Moved, wondering whether it had always been so, I sent this to the Lady Senji, who served where the former priestess now lived"
After the Kamo Priestess had resigned, Saigyō passed her former palace, saw people entering, and went in too. Moved at how it had changed, he sent this to the Lady Senji, who served the retired priestess. With its mistress gone the palace lies in ruin, and the Arisu stream reflects even the figure of a monk, once shunned there.
The palace, once sacred and unapproachable, now neglected without its mistress, and he himself, a monk, reflected in the Arisu stream within it, make him feel the sorrow of time's passing. It pairs with Lady Senji's reply in 1225.
First line, “kimi sumanu”: where the Priestess no longer lives.
Second line, “miuchi wa arete”: the palace grounds in ruin.
Third line, “arisugawa”: a stream near the Priestess's palace.
Fourth line, “imu sugata o mo”: even the figure of a monk, avoided at the Priestess's palace.
Fifth line, “utsushitsuru kana”: the stream has reflected it; kana is exclamatory.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
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