Nishi e yuku tsuki o ya yoso ni omouran kokoro ni iranu hito no tame ni wa

西へ行く月をやよそに思ふらん
心に入らぬ人のためには

Roma-ji: Nishi e yuku tsuki o ya yoso ni omouran kokoro ni iranu hito no tame ni wa
English Translation: The moon going west,
do they think of it as a thing
far away from them,
those whose hearts the teaching
never enters at all?
Meaning: Do they think of the moon moving westward as something that has nothing to do with them, those into whose hearts the teaching does not enter?
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 872

Headnote: "On the meaning of the passage 'easy to go, yet no one goes'"
The topic is the passage in the Sutra of Immeasurable Life that the Pure Land is easy to reach, yet no one goes. Do those whose hearts the teaching does not enter think of the moon passing westward as having nothing to do with them? the poet asks, lamenting those who do not seek the path to rebirth though it lies open. Following the preceding poem, the moon going west serves as a guide to paradise.

First line, “nishi e yuku”: going west, suggesting guidance to the Western Paradise.
Second line, “tsuki o ya yoso ni”: yoso is a thing apart; ya is answered by ran in the third line.
Third line, “omouran”: do they think so; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “kokoro ni iranu”: the teaching not entering the heart, answering 'no one' in the topic.
Fifth line, “hito no tame ni wa”: for such people, inverted to follow the third line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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