Passing by the Wasted Capital in Omi

Since the reign of Kashihara's sun-ruler
under Mount Unebi of the robe-tucking sash,
all the gods who were born
ruled all-under-heaven
one after another like hemlock trees
in Yamato that fills the sky.
But the emperor,
the divine prince, left it,
crossed the hills of Nara where the clay is good,
and, we don't know what he thought,
ruled all-under-heaven
from the palace at Otsu in Sasanami
in the land of rock-rushing Omi,
though it was a heaven-remote village.
I heard his great palace was here,
they say his great hall was here,
but spring grass grows rank,
haze rising, the spring sun is blurred.
This place, where the hundred-acre palace stood —
looking at it fills me with sorrow.

ENVOYS

Karasaki of Shiga in Sasanami remains unchanged, but waits in vain for the courtiers'
boats

Though the broad cove of Shiga in Sasanami may lie calm, will it ever meet again the
people of the past?
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Author of original: 
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
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