A monk who traded his sword for a walking staff, Saigyō spent his life wandering the mountains and valleys of medieval Japan, composing poems to the cherry blossoms, the moon, and the impermanence that shadows every living thing. This modern-English edition brings his celebrated waka—drawn from the Sankashū, his Mountain Home Collection—into clear, present-day language that preserves the spare beauty and quiet depth of the original. Whether he is watching blossoms fall at Yoshino, listening for the cuckoo in the summer hills, or sitting alone in a mountain hut as snow piles up outside, Saigyō speaks across eight centuries with a voice that is at once humble and luminous. Faithful to the meaning and spirit of the original, this edition invites today's readers into the heart of one of Japan's most beloved poetic traditions. Part of The Founding Texts Library.