Waga sono no okabe ni tateru hitotsu matsu o tomo to mitsutsu mo oinikeru kana

我が園の岡辺に立てる一つ松を
友と見つつも老いにけるかな

Roma-ji: Waga sono no okabe ni tateru hitotsu matsu o tomo to mitsutsu mo oinikeru kana
English Translation: In my own garden,
standing on the slope above,
a single pine tree—
while I've gazed on it as a friend,
I have grown old, after all.
Meaning: Gazing on the lone pine that stands on the slope of my garden as my friend, I too have grown old.
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1546

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Miscellaneous Poems"
The fourth of the ten miscellaneous poems. While gazing on the single pine on the slope of his garden as a friend, he himself has grown old.
Taking as companion the pine, emblem of long life, it laments that a human body cannot last like a pine but grows old. Against the long past the Miya River has seen in the preceding poem, this one sings of his own years spent beside a single pine.

First line, “waga sono no”: of my garden.
Second line, “okabe ni tateru”: ru marks continuing state, "standing on the slope."
Third line, “hitotsu matsu o”: a single pine; the line has an extra syllable.
Fourth line, “tomo to mitsutsu mo”: even while gazing on it as a friend.
Fifth line, “oinikeru kana”: nikeru marks completion and past, and kana exclamation, "I have grown old."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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