Kotonoha no nasake taenishi orifushi ni ariau mi koso kanashikarikere

言の葉の情け絶えにし折節に
あり逢ふ身こそ悲しかりけれ

Roma-ji: Kotonoha no nasake taenishi orifushi ni ariau mi koso kanashikarikere
English Translation: At such a season,
when the grace of verse and words
has come to its end,
how sad it is to find
I have lived to see this time.
Meaning: How sad it is to have lived on into this time, when the grace of poetry has died away.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1228

Headnote: "After the retired emperor went to Sanuki, poetry was hardly heard of in the world, so I sent this to Jakunen"
After Retired Emperor Sutoku had been exiled to Sanuki, poetry was scarcely heard in the world, and Saigyō sent this to Jakunen. How sad, he says, to have lived to see a time when the grace of poetry has died away.
Sutoku deeply loved waka and was at the center of the poetic world, himself commissioning hundred-poem sequences. Lamenting the decline of poetry with the emperor gone, Saigyō shares his grief with his friend Jakunen, a fellow lover of poetry. It pairs with Jakunen's reply in 1229.

First line, “kotonoha no”: of poetry.
Second line, “nasake taenishi”: whose grace has died out; nishi joins perfective and past.
Third line, “orifushi ni”: at this time.
Fourth line, “ariau mi koso”: ariau is to happen to be alive at the time; koso is emphatic.
Fifth line, “kanashikarikere”: closing the koso construction, "how sad it is."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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