Kazu naranu mi o mo kokoro no mochigao ni ukarete wa mata kaerikinikeri - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

数ならぬ身をも心の持ち顔に
浮かれては又帰り来にけり

Roma-ji: Kazu naranu mi o mo kokoro no mochigao ni ukarete wa mata kaerikinikeri
English Translation: This worthless self
as though my heart laid claim
to it as its own,
wanders off, and time again
comes back to it once more.
Meaning: As though it owned this worthless self of mine, my heart wanders off and then comes back to it again.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1748

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second of the poems on turning from the world and the first of four by Saigyō. Though his self is of no account, his heart, as if it owned that self, wanders off and then returns to it again. It gazes at the heart of one who has left the world, where body and heart will not part as he wishes.
The author, "Saigyō Hōshi," is Saigyō. His lay name was Satō Norikiyo; he served Retired Emperor Toba as a guard of the Northern Quarters but took vows while young. He traveled the provinces composing poems, and his personal collection is the Sankashū.

The first line, "kazu naranu," means "not counted, of no account." It echoes "the same number" of the preceding poem through the word "kazu."
The second line, "mi o mo kokoro no," means "even this self, the heart." It shows the conception of body and heart as separate.
The third line, "mochigao ni," means "with the look of owning it," as though it were its own.
The fourth line, "ukarete wa," means "the heart wandering away from the body."
In the last line, "mata kaerikinikeri," "keri" expresses realization. Seeing that the wandering heart always returns to the body, he laments a heart that cannot abandon the self.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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