Tani no ma ni hitori zo matsu mo taterikeru ware nomi tomo wa naki ka to omoeba

谷の間にひとりぞ松も立てりける
我のみ友はなきかと思へば

Roma-ji: Tani no ma ni hitori zo matsu mo taterikeru ware nomi tomo wa naki ka to omoeba
English Translation: Down within the vale,
a pine too was standing there
alone like me,
though I'd thought it was only I
who had no friend at all.
Meaning: There in the valley, a pine too was standing all alone, though I had thought I was the only one without a friend.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 941

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
I had thought I alone was without a friend, but in the valley a pine too stood alone, the poet says, finding kinship with the pine standing solitary as he does.
The poem is included among the miscellaneous poems of the Shinkokinshū.

First line, “tani no ma ni”: within the valley.
Second line, “hitori zo matsu mo”: zo is answered by keru in the third line.
Third line, “taterikeru”: was standing; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “ware nomi tomo wa”: that only I, a friend.
Fifth line, “naki ka to omoeba”: when I thought I had none, inverted to follow the third line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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