Nagori ika ni kaesugaesu mo oshikarashi sonokoma ni tatsu kagura toneri wa

名残いかに返す返すも惜しからし
其駒に立つ神楽舎人は

Roma-ji: Nagori ika ni kaesugaesu mo oshikarashi sonokoma ni tatsu kagura toneri wa
English Translation: How they must regret,
again and yet again, the end—
how it must pain them,
the kagura dancers who stand
for the closing song, "Sonokoma."
Meaning: How deeply, again and again, they must regret the parting—the kagura attendants who stand to dance the closing "Sonokoma."
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1524

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Poems on the Gods: Two Poems on Kagura"
The second of the two poems on kagura. How much the kagura attendants dancing the closing song "Sonokoma" must regret the end of the performance.
"Sonokoma" was sung at the end of kagura, with a dance sending the gods away. The poem gives voice, through the dancers' hearts, to the regret as a night-long kagura at last draws to a close. Following the morning star of the preceding poem, this one sings of the end of the kagura, the two together depicting it from dawn to its close.

First line, “nagori ika ni”: how great the regret at parting; the line has an extra syllable.
Second line, “kaesugaesu mo”: again and again, also evoking the turning of sleeves in the dance.
Third line, “oshikarashi”: rashi is inference, "it must be regretted"; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “sonokoma ni tatsu”: Sonokoma is the song sung at the close of kagura, "standing to dance it."
Fifth line, “kagura toneri wa”: the attendants serving at kagura, in inversion.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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