Mi no usa o omoishirade ya yaminamashi somuku narai no naki yo nariseba - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

身の憂さを思ひ知らでややみなまし
背くならひのなき世なりせば

Roma-ji: Mi no usa o omoishirade ya yaminamashi somuku narai no naki yo nariseba
English Translation: Would I have come to
the end unaware of all
the sorrow of my life,
had this been a world without
the custom of turning away?
Meaning: Had this been a world without the custom of turning away from it, would I have come to my end without ever knowing my own sorrow?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1829

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the seventh of the poems on loathing the world and the second of four by Saigyō. Had there been no custom of renouncing the world, would he have ended without ever realizing his own sorrow? It sets out the paradox that it is precisely because there is a way of leaving the world that one comes to know its sorrow.
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. No author is named in the original; the attribution continues from the preceding poem.

The first line, "mi no usa o," means "the sorrow of my life." It is the same as the first line of Jakuren's poem 1753 in this book.
The second line, "omoishirade ya," means "without realizing." "Ya" is a particle of question.
The third line, "yaminamashi," closes the kakari-musubi of "ya" with the attributive of the counterfactual "mashi," meaning "would it have ended so?" The poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "somuku narai no," means "of the custom of turning away," that is, the path of taking vows.
In the last line, "naki yo nariseba," "seba" answers "mashi" in the third line to form a counterfactual. Placing the supposition last through inversion, it shows the paradox that the path of renunciation is what makes one know the world's sorrow.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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