何事にとまる心のありければ
さらにしもまた世の厭はしき
さらにしもまた世の厭はしき
- Roma-ji
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Nanigoto ni tomaru kokoro no arikereba sara ni shimo mata yo no itowashiki
- English Translation
-
Because there is still
something my heart lingers on,
clinging to it yet,
all the more, now once again,
the world seems hateful to me.
- Meaning
- Because my heart still clings to something, the world seems all the more hateful to me once again.
- Commentary
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Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1831
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the ninth of the poems on loathing the world and the last of four by Saigyō. Precisely because his heart is held back by something, the world seems hateful to him once again. He sees that beneath his loathing of the world there still lies attachment to it.
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, "nanigoto ni," means "to some matter."
The second line, "tomaru kokoro no," means "a heart that lingers," that is, attachment to the world.
The third line, "arikereba," means "since there was." "Ba" after the realis marks a cause.
The fourth line, "sara ni shimo mata," means "once again, anew." "Shimo" is emphatic. The same "sara ni" as in the last line of the preceding poem is repeated.
The last line, "yo no itowashiki," means "the world is hateful." Breaking off on the attributive with a sigh, it closes Saigyō's four poems with the paradox that loathing is itself the reverse side of attachment.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Ikaga subeki yo ni araba ya wa yo o mo sutete anau no yo ya to sara ni omowamu
- Next Poem
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Mukashi yori hanaregataki wa ukiyo kana katami ni shinobu naka naranedomo