Kyō no koma wa mizu no shōbu o oite koso kataki o rachi ni kakete tōrame

今日の駒は美豆の菖蒲を負ひてこそ
敵を埒に駆けて通らめ

Roma-ji: Kyō no koma wa mizu no shōbu o oite koso kataki o rachi ni kakete tōrame
English Translation: Today's racing steeds,
only bearing the irises
from the fields of Mizu,
will they gallop past their rivals
straight along the track's railing.
Meaning: Today's horses, only if they bear the irises of Mizu, will gallop past their rivals along the railing of the track.
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1527

Headnote: "Ten Poems on the Gods: Two Poems on Otokoyama"
Among the ten poems on the gods, the first of two on Otokoyama. Today's racehorses, if they bear the irises of Mizu, will gallop past their rivals within the railings.
Otokoyama is the hill of the Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine. The poem seems to sing of the spirit of a horse-race rite, with horses wearing the irises of the Boys' Festival entering the contest. Mizu is a place along the Yodo River, named here as a source of irises.

First line, “kyō no koma wa”: today's racehorses; the line has an extra syllable.
Second line, “mizu no shōbu o”: Mizu is a place along the Yodo River, "the irises of Mizu."
Third line, “oite koso”: koso is a binding particle answered by me in the fifth line, "only by bearing them."
Fourth line, “kataki o rachi ni”: rachi is the railing around the track, "rivals within the railing."
Fifth line, “kakete tōrame”: answering koso with me, the perfective of conjectural mu, "they will gallop through."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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