Mi no usa o omoishirade ya yaminamashi somuku narai no naki yo nariseba

身の憂さを思ひ知らでや止みなまし
背くならひのなき世なりせば

Roma-ji: Mi no usa o omoishirade ya yaminamashi somuku narai no naki yo nariseba
English Translation: The sorrows of my lot,
would I have gone to my end
never knowing them,
had this been a world without
the custom of turning from it?
Meaning: Would I have ended my days never knowing the sorrows of my lot, had this been a world with no custom of turning away from it?
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 908

Headnote: "Five poems expressing my thoughts"
The topic is five poems of personal feeling, running from here to 912. Had this been a world with no custom of renouncing it, would I have ended my days without ever knowing the sorrows of my lot? the poet asks. It is a paradox: because the path of taking vows exists, one comes all the more to feel the misery of living in the world.

First line, “mi no usa o”: the sorrows of my lot.
Second line, “omoishirade ya”: de is negative and ya a question particle answered by mashi.
Third line, “yaminamashi”: mashi is counterfactual; would I have ended so? The poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “somuku narai no”: of the custom of turning from the world, the path of renunciation.
Fifth line, “naki yo nariseba”: seba is counterfactual, had the world been without it, inverted to follow the third line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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