When I made a pilgrimage to Kumano, the blossom at Yagami-no-Ōji[i] were white, so I wrote this and attached it to the shrine.
まちきつるやがみのさくらさきにけりあらくおろすなみすの山かぜ
| machikitsuru yagami no sakura sakinikeri araku orosu na misu no yamakaze | Pining, have I come To Yagami’s cherries In bloom. Roughly do not blow them down, O, winds from Misu Mountain! |
98
[i] Yagami-no-ōji 八上王子 was one of the ninety-nine shrines at which pilgrims travelling from the capital to Kumano would pay their respects to the deity, Kumano-gongen 熊野権現. Ruins of this shrine still exist, alongside the current Yagami Shrine (yagami jinja 八上神社) in Kamitonda 上富田 in Wakayama prefecture, where Saigyō’s visit is commemorated by a stele engraved with this waka.