Mizu hitaru ike ni uruou shitatari o inochi ni tanomu irokuzu ya tare

水干たる池に潤ふ滴りを
命に頼むいろくづや誰

Roma-ji: Mizu hitaru ike ni uruou shitatari o inochi ni tanomu irokuzu ya tare
English Translation: In a pond run dry,
the few drops that moisten it
where they trickle down—
the fish that rely on them
to live: tell me, who are they?
Meaning: The fish that depend for their life on the drops trickling into a pond whose water has run dry—who are they?
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1518

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Poems on Impermanence"
The sixth of the ten poems on impermanence. Who are the fish that rely for their lives on the few drops falling into a pond that has dried up?
The fish sustaining their last bit of life in dwindling water figure humankind, whose life shrinks day by day, and the poem asks whether they are not ourselves. Like the guttering lamp of the preceding poem, it sings of life about to run out.

First line, “mizu hitaru”: whose water has dried up.
Second line, “ike ni uruou”: barely moistening the pond.
Third line, “shitatari o”: the drops trickling down.
Fourth line, “inochi ni tanomu”: relying on them to live.
Fifth line, “irokuzu ya tare”: irokuzu means fish; who are those fish? the question turned toward the reader.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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