Kono yo nite mata au majiki kanashisa ni susumeshi hito zo kokoro midareshi - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

この世にて又逢ふまじき悲しさに
勧めし人ぞ心乱れし

Roma-ji: Kono yo nite mata au majiki kanashisa ni susumeshi hito zo kokoro midareshi
English Translation: In the grief of knowing
we shall never meet again
within this world,
it was I, the one who urged him,
whose heart fell into turmoil
Meaning: In my grief that we shall never meet again in this world, it was I, the one who urged him to keep his mind on the Buddha, whose heart fell into disarray.
Commentary: Book Nine Poems of Lament 605

Headnote: "Reply"
Saigyō's reply to Jakuzen's poem before it. In my grief that we shall not meet again in this world, he says, it was I who urged him whose heart was troubled. Saigyō attended Saijū at his death and urged him to recite the nembutsu with an undisturbed mind; while Saijū passed away in right mindfulness, Saigyō confesses that he himself, the one who urged him, was thrown into turmoil by the grief of parting. The poem frankly shows the gap between the ideal of one who lives by the Buddhist path and the sorrow of a man who has lost his friend.
The author, "the Monk En'i," is Saigyō. His lay name was Satō Norikiyo, and he was a guard of the north quarters under Retired Emperor Toba, but at twenty-three he took the tonsure, traveled through the provinces, and left many poems. His personal collection is the Sankashū. He has a poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
This poem closes the book of laments. The exchange in 545 and 546 at the opening of the book mourns friends with whom the poets viewed blossoms, and 546 ends "mata mo awaneba." This final poem likewise mourns a friend with whom the poet gazed at the moon and laments "mata au majiki," so that the beginning and end of the book answer each other.

First line, "kono yo nite": "in this world."
Second line, "mata au majiki": "majiki" is the attributive of the negative conjectural "maji," "we shall not meet again." It answers "mata mo awaneba" in 546, part of the exchange at the opening of the book.
Third line, "kanashisa ni": "because of the grief."
Fourth line, "susumeshi hito zo": "susume" is to urge the nembutsu at death, and "shi" the attributive of the past "ki," "the one who urged him," Saigyō himself. The emphatic "zo" closes with the attributive "shi" in the last line.
Fifth line, "kokoro midareshi": "shi" is the attributive of the past "ki," closing the "zo" of the fourth line. Against "midarezu to" in the first line of the preceding poem, it contrasts Saijū, who passed undisturbed, with the poet, who urged him and was disturbed, and closes the book.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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