Nobe ni naku mushi mo ya mono wa kanashiki ni kotaemashikaba toite kikamashi

野辺に鳴く虫もやものはかなしきに
答へましかば問ひて聞かまし

Roma-ji: Nobe ni naku mushi mo ya mono wa kanashiki ni kotaemashikaba toite kikamashi
English Translation: Do the insects too,
crying in the moorland grass,
feel the sadness so?
If they only would reply,
how I'd ask and hear them out.
Meaning: Do the insects crying on the moor feel sad as I do? If only they could answer, I would ask and hear what they have to say.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 450

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When I composed poems on insects"
This is the sixth poem in the insect series. Are the insects crying on the moor sad as the poet is? If only they could answer, he would like to ask them and hear their hearts. Sensing in their voices a sorrow like his own, he longs to know the insects' hearts.
Where the poems before sang of the poet weeping at the insects' cries, this one turns its thought to the insects' own hearts. Using the mashikaba ... mashi construction of supposition against fact, it expresses the wish to question insects that cannot answer.

First line, “nobe ni naku”: crying on the moor, modifying mushi in the second line.
Second line, “mushi mo ya mono wa”: mo means the insects too, like me, and ya is a question particle.
Third line, “kanashiki ni”: are they sad, with ni carrying on to what follows; the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “kotaemashikaba”: mashika is the perfective form of mashi, if they would answer.
Fifth line, “toite kikamashi”: mashi expresses supposition contrary to fact, I would ask and listen, answering the fourth line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
Prev Poem: Mushi no ne o yoso ni omoite akasaneba tamoto mo tsuyu wa nobe ni kawaraji
Next Poem: Aki no yo o hitori ya nakite akasamashi tomonau mushi no koe nakariseba