Mushi no ne o yoso ni omoite akasaneba tamoto mo tsuyu wa nobe ni kawaraji

虫の音をよそに思ひて明かさねば
袂も露は野辺に変はらじ

Roma-ji: Mushi no ne o yoso ni omoite akasaneba tamoto mo tsuyu wa nobe ni kawaraji
English Translation: Since I do not pass
the night as one who thinks the cries
of insects none of mine,
in the dew upon my sleeves
I would not differ from the moor.
Meaning: Since I do not pass the night treating the insects' cries as no concern of mine, my sleeves must be no less wet with dew than the moor itself.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 449

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When I composed poems on insects"
This is the fifth poem in the insect series. The poet does not spend the night letting the insects' cries pass as something that does not concern him, so with the tears he sheds at them, the dew on his sleeves must be as heavy as the dew on the moor. So deeply does his heart go out to the insects that his sleeves are as wet as the moor.
It uses the same word yoso as 447, which said the sleeves were wet though the moor was far away, and here, since the poet does not treat the insect voices as distant, his sleeves become like the moor.

First line, “mushi no ne o”: the cries of the insects.
Second line, “yoso ni omoite”: thinking of them as having nothing to do with me.
Third line, “akasaneba”: since I do not pass the night so, the perfective form of the negative with ba.
Fourth line, “tamoto mo tsuyu wa”: my sleeves too, as for dew, with mo implying like the moor.
Fifth line, “nobe ni kawaraji”: ji is negative conjecture, they would not differ from the moor.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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