東路やあひの中山ほど狭み
心の奥の見えばこそあらめ
心の奥の見えばこそあらめ
- Roma-ji
-
Azumaji ya Ai no Nakayama hodo semami kokoro no oku no mieba koso arame
- English Translation
-
On the eastern road,
Ai, Meeting Mountain, is
narrow, close we pass,
but if the heart's depths could be seen,
then indeed it would be well.
- Meaning
- On the eastern road the pass of Ai no Nakayama is so narrow we come close, yet it would be well only if the depths of the heart could be seen.
- Commentary
-
Love Poems 695
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Love"
On the road to the eastern provinces lies Ai no Nakayama, where the path is so narrow that travelers pass close by one another. The poet is taken to say that however close one may come in meeting, it would be well only if one could see into the depths of the other's heart, and that cannot be seen. Ai joins the place name with au, to meet, voicing the grief of a love whose hearts do not touch even when close.
First line, “Azumaji ya”: Azumaji is the road from the capital to the eastern provinces, and ya is exclamatory.
Second line, “Ai no Nakayama”: ai is a pivot word joining the name of a mountain on the eastern road with au, to meet.
Third line, “hodo semami”: mi is a suffix of cause: since the way is narrow.
Fourth line, “kokoro no oku no”: the depths of the heart; oku, the interior, is used in association with the eastern road.
Fifth line, “mieba koso arame”: it would be well if it could be seen; the binding particle koso is answered by the perfective me, carrying the unspoken sense that it cannot.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
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