Adabito no ada ni aru mi no adagoto o kyō minazuki no harae sutetsu to iu

あだ人のあだにある身のあだ事を
今日水無月の祓へ捨てつといふ

Roma-ji: Adabito no ada ni aru mi no adagoto o kyō minazuki no harae sutetsu to iu
English Translation: All the fickle deeds
of a fickle one whose life
is but fickle too—
at today's sixth-month cleansing
cast away, or so they say.
Meaning: The fickle deeds of a fickle person, living a fickle life—today, at the sixth-month purification, they say, all were cast away.
Commentary: Summer Poems 179

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "The purification of the sixth month"
The poet tells how the fickle deeds of a fickle person, living a fleeting life, have been cast away at today's purification of the sixth month. With a deft rhythm that repeats ada ("fickle") three times, he portrays the rite that washes away the sins and impurities of the human world, closing the summer section.
The Ruijū text places this poem in the miscellaneous section. In the source text consulted, line 4 appears as kyō minazuki, and no has been supplied here on the basis of the syllable count. The last line is hypermetric.

Line 1, adabito, means a fickle or insincere person. Together with lines 2 and 3, ada is repeated three times to shape the rhythm.
Line 2, "whose life is fickle," repeats the ada of line 1 in a different sense, "fleeting."
Line 3, adagoto, means fickle deeds or empty things.
Line 4, "today, the sixth month," marks the day of the purification and takes up "at today's purification" in the preceding poem, 178.
Line 5 is hypermetric; tsu marks completion and iu means "so people say." Whereas the opening poem of the section, 133, shed the robes of spring, the section closes by casting off the body's impurities through purification, readying for the new season.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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