Toshi takete mata koyubeshi to omoiki ya inochi nari keri saya no nakayama

English Translation

Now that I am old,
did I ever think that I
would cross here again?
It is life that brought me back:
Saya-no-Nakayama.

Meaning

Grown old, did I ever think I would cross this pass again? It is only because I am still alive: Saya-no-Nakayama.

Commentary

Book Ten Travel Poems 987

Headnote: "Composed when he went down to the East."
This is the third of the sequence that closes the book with thoughts of home and the capital. Grown old, he never thought he would cross this mountain again; it is only because he still lives, the deep feeling of crossing Saya-no-Nakayama once more in old age after crossing it in youth. According to the headnote, it was composed when he went down to the eastern provinces.
The author, Saigyō, whose lay name was Satō Norikiyo, served Retired Emperor Toba as a guard of the Northern Quarter before taking holy orders, a poet of the late Heian period. He traveled throughout the provinces composing poems, and his personal collection is the Sankashū.
The scene is a journey to the East in old age, at Saya-no-Nakayama in Tōtōmi Province.
The direct occasion is crossing this mountain again on a journey to the East. It is said to have been composed when Saigyō, late in life, went down to Mutsu to solicit funds for the rebuilding of Tōdaiji.

The first line, "toshi takete," means "grown old." It shows a journey in old age.
The second line, "mata koyubeshi to," means "that I would cross again." "Mata" calls up the memory of crossing this mountain in youth. Like "akeba mata koyubeki" in 939 and "kyō wa mata" in 956, the word "mata" is sung of, but here it is a crossing again after the span of many years.
The third line, "omoiki ya," means "did I think? I never did." The past "ki" joins the rhetorical "ya," and the poem breaks after this third line.
The fourth line, "inochi nari keri," means "it is because I live." With the realizing "keri," it shows a deep feeling at having lived on. The poem breaks after this fourth line as well.
The last line, "saya no nakayama," is a pass in Tōtōmi Province, a famous place known as a hard stretch of the Tōkaidō, ending on a noun. In this book Saya-no-Nakayama is sung of again and again, in 907, 940, 954, and 962, carrying the fear of ending one's life beyond the clouds and the wish to forget home, but this poem sings of the feeling of a life that has crossed the same mountain twice, gathering up the poems on Saya-no-Nakayama.

Author

Saigyō

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other