Fude no yama ni kakinoborite mo mitsuru kana koke no shita naru iwa no keshiki o

筆の山にかき登りても見つるかな
苔の下なる岩のけしきを

Roma-ji: Fude no yama ni kakinoborite mo mitsuru kana koke no shita naru iwa no keshiki o
English Translation: Up Mount Fude, named
for the brush, I've climbed and clung,
and I've seen at last—
lying underneath the moss,
the shape of the ancient stones.
Meaning: Clambering up Mount Fude, the Brush Mountain, I have seen at last the stones lying beneath the moss.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1371

Headnote: "Directly above it is the peak where the Great Teacher met his master; it is called Gahaishi-san, and the local people call it Wagahaishi, dropping the word for mountain. It is also named Fude no Yama, the Brush Mountain, apparently because from afar it looks like a brush, rounded with a pointed tip. Clinging carefully, I climbed from the meditation site to the peak, where as a sign of the place he met his master he had built a pagoda. Its foundation stones are immeasurably large, seeming the site of a pagoda as great as the Great Pagoda of Kōya. Though deeply buried in moss, the stones are so large they show plainly. On the name Fude no Yama I composed this." A note adds: "In the portrait of the Great Teacher at Zentsūji, his master is depicted raised beside him, and there was also the Great Teacher's own handwriting. The plaques of the four gates were slightly cracked but mostly intact. I felt uneasy, wondering what would become of them in later days"
Above the meditation site is the peak where Kōbō Daishi met the Buddha, called Gahaishi-san or the Brush Mountain from its shape. Climbing with care, Saigyō found the foundation stones of a pagoda the Daishi had built there, as great as the Great Pagoda of Kōya, plainly visible though buried in moss. Clambering up the Brush Mountain, he has seen the stones beneath the moss.
On the name Fude, "brush," the poem plays on kaku, "to write," and kaki-, the prefix in kakinoboru, "to clamber." It sings of the emotion of seeing with his own eyes the foundation stones of the Daishi's pagoda sleeping beneath the moss. The note also records the Daishi's portrait at Zentsūji and the plaques of its four gates.

First line, “fude no yama ni”: on the Brush Mountain, another name of Gahaishi-san; the line has an extra syllable.
Second line, “kakinoborite mo”: kaki joins "writing" with a brush and the prefix of kakinoboru, "clamber."
Third line, “mitsuru kana”: kana is exclamatory, "I have seen"; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “koke no shita naru”: lying beneath the moss.
Fifth line, “iwa no keshiki o”: the look of the stones, the pagoda's foundations, the inversion giving what was seen.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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