Omoishiru hito arikeri no yo narise ba tsukisezu mi o ba uramizaramashi - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思ひ知る人ありけりの世なりせば
尽きせず身をば恨みざらまし

Roma-ji: Omoishiru hito arikeri no yo narise ba tsukisezu mi o ba uramizaramashi
English Translation: If this were a world
where there were one who understood
the heart that I bear,
I would not, without an end,
resent my own sorry self.
Meaning: If this were a world in which there was someone who understood my heart, I would not go on resenting myself without end.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 1148

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the sixth poem of the sequence in which one-sided love comes to dwell on one's own self and life, and the closing poem of Love Poems II. If this were a world with someone who understood his heart, the speaker would not resent himself without end. The headnote continues from the preceding poem and gives no topic. No author is named in the original; like the preceding poem, it is by Saigyō.
The author is Saigyō; "Hōshi" in the original name means a monk. His lay name was Satō Norikiyo; he served Retired Emperor Toba as a guard of the north quarters but took vows at twenty-three and traveled the provinces composing poems.

The first line, "omoishiru," means "to understand deeply," taking up "omoishiru tote," the last line of the preceding poem, and beginning with the same word.
The second line, "hito arikeri no," means "where there is such a person," and runs on to "yo," world, in the third line.
The third line, "yo narise ba," means "if it were a world," with "se" the irrealis of the past auxiliary "ki." The pattern "seba ... mashi" is counterfactual, showing that in truth the world holds no such person.
The fourth line, "tsukisezu mi o ba," means "without end, myself."
The last line, "uramizaramashi," means "I would not resent," with "mashi" closing the counterfactual. The wish of the preceding poem, clinging to life in hope of being understood, is here shown as a reality that will not come true. Where the opening poem, 1081, grieved over a love that vanishes unknown to anyone, the closing poem laments a world with no one who understands, bringing to a close Love Poems II, which began with hidden love.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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