Koenureba mata mo kono yo ni kaerikonu shide no yama koso kanashikarikere

越えぬればまたもこの世に帰り来ぬ
死出の山こそ悲しかりけれ

Roma-ji: Koenureba mata mo kono yo ni kaerikonu shide no yama koso kanashikarikere
English Translation: Once it has been crossed,
never again to this world
can one come back home;
it is the mountain of death
that is the saddest of all.
Meaning: The mountain of death, once crossed, from which none ever return to this world again: that is what is truly sad.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 763

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
Once crossed, the mountain of death allows no return to this world, and that is what is truly sad, the poet says, expressing the irreversibility of death as the crossing of the mountain of the underworld.

First line, “koenureba”: nure is the perfective of nu; once it is crossed.
Second line, “mata mo kono yo ni”: to this world again.
Third line, “kaerikonu”: never coming back.
Fourth line, “shide no yama koso”: shide no yama is the mountain the dead must cross; koso is a binding particle.
Fifth line, “kanashikarikere”: closing the koso construction in the perfective; how sad it is.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
Prev Poem: Koto to naku kyō kurenu meri asu mo mata kawarazu koso wa hima suguru kage
Next Poem: Hakanashi ya ada ni inochi no tsuyu kiete nobe ni waga mi ya okuri okuran