滝落つる吉野の奥の宮川の
昔を見けん跡慕はばや
昔を見けん跡慕はばや
- Roma-ji
-
Taki otsuru yoshino no oku no miyakawa no mukashi o miken ato shitawabaya
- English Translation
-
Where the falls drop down
deep within the Yoshino hills,
the Miya River
must have watched the days of old—
those traces I would follow.
- Meaning
- Deep in Yoshino where the falls drop down, the Miya River must have watched the days of old—I long to seek out the traces it has seen.
- Commentary
-
One Hundred Poems 1545
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Miscellaneous Poems"
The third of the ten miscellaneous poems. He longs to seek the traces of the past that the Miya River, flowing deep in Yoshino where the falls drop, must have seen.
The Miya River of Yoshino seems to flow through the land where a detached palace once stood, and the poem sings of nostalgia for the distant past the river has witnessed. Where the blossom poems at the head of the hundred sang of Yoshino's flowers, the miscellaneous poems here recall Yoshino's past, treating the same place from the two sides of blossoms and history.
First line, “taki otsuru”: where the falls drop down.
Second line, “yoshino no oku no”: deep in the Yoshino hills, echoing Mount Yoshino in the blossom poems.
Third line, “miyakawa no”: the name of the river flowing deep in Yoshino.
Fourth line, “mukashi o miken”: ken is conjecture about the past, "that must have seen the days of old."
Fifth line, “ato shitawabaya”: baya is a wish for oneself, "I would seek out those traces."
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
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