Saranu dani omoki ga ue ni sayogoromo waga tsuma naranu tsuma na kasane so - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

さらぬだに重きが上に小夜衣
わがつまならぬつまな重ねそ

Roma-ji: Saranu dani omoki ga ue ni sayogoromo waga tsuma naranu tsuma na kasane so
English Translation: Even as it is,
upon a burden heavy,
the robe of the night—
a hem that is not your own wife's,
do not layer on that hem.
Meaning: On a life already heavy enough, do not layer the hems of your night robes with one who is not your own wife.
Commentary: Book Twenty Buddhist Poems 1963

Headnote: "The Precept Against Sexual Misconduct."
This is the third poem in the sequence on the Ten Precepts. On a life already heavy enough, it warns against layering one's night robes—that is, against lying with one who is not one's own wife. The headnote gives as its topic the Precept Against Sexual Misconduct, one of the Ten Precepts.
Likening the piling up of sins to the layering of night robes, it warns against illicit unions.
No author is named in the text; continuing from the preceding poem, this is a poem by Jakuzen Hōshi, who, whose lay name was Fujiwara no Yorinari, was a son of Fujiwara no Tametada. With his elder brothers Jakunen and Jakuchō he lived in retirement at Ōhara, and the three were called the Three Jaku of Ōhara. He was a close friend of Saigyō.
The Precept Against Sexual Misconduct forbids unions between men and women that stray from the proper way.

The first line, "saranu dani," means "even otherwise"; the particle "dani" cites a lighter case to suggest a heavier one.
The second line, "omoki ga ue ni," means "upon what is already heavy," overlaying the weight of garments with the weight of sin one already bears.
The third line, "sayogoromo," is the robe worn at night, suggesting lovers lying together and leading into "layering" in the lower half.
In the fourth line, "waga tsuma naranu," "tsuma" is a pivot word joining the "skirt hem" of a robe and "wife."
The last line, "tsuma na kasane so," is a prohibition in the "na ... so" form: do not layer them. As in the fourth line, "tsuma" joins "hem" and "wife," and "heavy," "night robe," "hem," and "layer" are associated words.
Author: Jakuzen
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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