Yoshinashi na arasou koto o tate ni shite ikari o nomi mo musubu kokoro wa

よしなしな争ふことを楯にして
怒りをのみも結ぶ心は

Roma-ji: Yoshinashi na arasou koto o tate ni shite ikari o nomi mo musubu kokoro wa
English Translation: How pointless it is,
taking all their strife and quarrels
as a shield to hold,
binding up nothing but rage,
such is the asura's heart.
Meaning: How pointless it is, a heart that takes strife as its shield and binds itself to nothing but anger.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 900

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing poems on the six realms: Asuras"
This is the fourth of the six-realm poems, on the realm of the asuras, who fight and quarrel without end. How pointless is a heart that takes strife as its shield and binds itself to nothing but anger, the poet says, telling of the emptiness of the asura's heart, given over to conflict and rage.

First line, “yoshinashi na”: yoshinashi is pointless; na is exclamatory; the poem breaks here.
Second line, “arasou koto o”: strife, the asuras' warring.
Third line, “tate ni shite”: as a shield, using the shield of battle.
Fourth line, “ikari o nomi mo”: nothing but anger.
Fifth line, “musubu kokoro wa”: the heart that binds it up, inverted to follow the first line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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