Towaba ya to omoiyorade zo nagekamashi mukashi nagara no waga mi nariseba

問はばやと思ひ寄らでぞ嘆かまし
昔ながらの我が身なりせば

Roma-ji: Towaba ya to omoiyorade zo nagekamashi mukashi nagara no waga mi nariseba
English Translation: Never thinking then
to offer prayers, I would only
have grieved for him so,
had I been as in the past,
this self of mine unchanged.
Meaning: Had I still been as I was in the old days, I would only have grieved, never thinking to stay and offer prayers for him.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 784

Headnote: "After he had been laid to rest, those who had attended him, though grieved beyond compare, returned home since there are limits to all things; having begun certain rites, I stayed until dawn and composed this"
After Retired Emperor Toba had been laid to rest, those who had attended him went home, grieved beyond words, since such things have their limits. Saigyō, having begun certain observances, stayed until dawn and composed this. Had I been as I was in the old days, still in lay life, I would never have thought to offer prayers and would only have grieved, he says. It is because he has taken vows that he could stay till dawn praying for the late emperor's salvation.

First line, “towaba ya to”: tou is to pray for the dead; baya expresses a wish.
Second line, “omoiyorade zo”: de is negative, without the thought occurring; zo is answered by mashi in the third line.
Third line, “nagekamashi”: mashi is counterfactual, I would have grieved; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “mukashi nagara no”: as in the old days, when he was a guard of the Northern Quarters.
Fifth line, “waga mi nariseba”: seba is a counterfactual condition, had I been, inverted to follow the third line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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