Nakanaka ni narenu omoi no mama naraba urami bakari ya mi ni tsumoramashi

なかなかに馴れぬ思ひのままならば
恨みばかりや身に積もらまし

Roma-ji: Nakanaka ni narenu omoi no mama naraba urami bakari ya mi ni tsumoramashi
English Translation: Rather, if it had
stayed a love that never knew
familiarity,
would only resentment then
have piled up within me?
Meaning: Had it stayed a love that never grew intimate, would only resentment, I wonder, have piled up within me?
Commentary: Love Poems 665

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love"
Because they became intimate, the poet has come to know many kinds of pain besides resentment. Had it remained a love without intimacy, he asks, would only resentment have piled up within him? The counterfactual expresses the pain that comes precisely from intimacy.
Taking up tsumorinuru kana, how they have piled up, at the end of the preceding poem, this one too sings of what piles up in mi ni tsumoramashi, moving from the piling up of years to the piling up of resentment.

First line, “nakanaka ni”: on the contrary, all the more.
Second line, “narenu omoi no”: naru is to grow intimate: a love without intimacy, that is, unrequited.
Third line, “mama naraba”: had it stayed so; this answers mashi at the end.
Fourth line, “urami bakari ya”: the particle ya marks a question and binds with mashi at the end.
Fifth line, “mi ni tsumoramashi”: mashi is counterfactual: would it have piled up within me? It echoes tsumorinuru kana of the preceding poem.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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