Yo no usa o mukashigatari ni nashihatete hanatachibana ni omoiideme ya

世の憂さを昔語りになし果てて
花橘に思ひ出でめや

Roma-ji: Yo no usa o mukashigatari ni nashihatete hanatachibana ni omoiideme ya
English Translation: All the world's sorrows
into old tales of the past
once I have made them,
would the orange blossom's scent
bring them back to mind again?
Meaning: Once I have turned all the sorrows of this world into tales of long ago, would the orange blossoms ever bring them back to mind?
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 722

Headnote: "Expressing my thoughts through orange blossoms"
The topic is to express one's feelings through orange blossoms. If the poet could make the sorrows of the world wholly a thing of the past, the scent of orange blossoms, which calls back old times, would surely not bring them to mind again. The poem holds the wish to leave the world and make its sorrows a thing gone by.
Following 714, this poem again sings of the scent of orange blossoms that calls back the past.

First line, “yo no usa o”: the sorrows of this world.
Second line, “mukashigatari ni”: mukashigatari is a tale of the past.
Third line, “nashihatete”: having wholly made them so.
Fourth line, “hanatachibana ni”: the blossoms whose scent recalls the past, the same word as the second line of 714.
Fifth line, “omoiideme ya”: me ya is rhetorical; would they bring it to mind? Surely not.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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