Mikumano no munashiki koto wa araji kashi mushitareita no hakobu ayumi wa

み熊野のむなしきことはあらじかし
むしたれいたの運ぶ歩みは

Roma-ji: Mikumano no munashiki koto wa araji kashi mushitareita no hakobu ayumi wa
English Translation: To fair Kumano—
it will never be in vain,
surely, never so:
the steps of the mushitareita
carried on along the way.
Meaning: It will surely never be in vain—the steps carried on toward Kumano by the mushitareita.
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1529

Headnote: "Ten Poems on the Gods: Two Poems on Kumano"
Among the ten poems on the gods, the first of two on Kumano. The steps taken one by one toward Kumano will surely not end in vain.
Pilgrimage to Kumano meant walking a long and rugged road, and the poem seems to express the faith that the hardship of the journey itself earns merit. The mushitareita of the fourth line is hard to construe and is given here as in the text.

First line, “mikumano no”: mi is an honorific prefix, "of Kumano."
Second line, “munashiki koto wa”: that it should be in vain.
Third line, “araji kashi”: ji is negative conjecture and kashi an insistent particle, "surely it will not be"; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “mushitareita no”: hard to construe, apparently a word connected with the dress or road of the Kumano pilgrimage.
Fifth line, “hakobu ayumi wa”: the steps carried forward, the inversion showing what is not in vain.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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