Kaeriyuku hito no kokoro o omou ni mo hanaregataki wa miyako narikeri

帰りゆく人の心を思ふにも
離れがたきは都なりけり

Roma-ji: Kaeriyuku hito no kokoro o omou ni mo hanaregataki wa miyako narikeri
English Translation: As I think upon
the heart of the one who goes
on his way back home,
the place hardest to leave, I see,
is the capital itself.
Meaning: Thinking of the heart of the one who is going back, I realize that the hardest place to leave is the capital after all.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1097

Headnote: "When a companion who had come with me to Shikoku returned to the capital"
Composed when a companion monk who had come with him to Shikoku went back to the capital. Thinking of the heart of the one returning, the poet realizes that what people find hardest to leave is the capital after all.
That even a companion on an ascetic journey should go back makes him feel anew the pull of the capital; it shows understanding for his companion, and also that a longing for the capital lingers in Saigyō himself, who should have cast it off. It forms a sequence with 1098.

First line, “kaeriyuku”: going back to the capital.
Second line, “hito no kokoro o”: the heart of that companion.
Third line, “omou ni mo”: as I think of it.
Fourth line, “hanaregataki wa”: what is hard to leave.
Fifth line, “miyako narikeri”: keri marks realization, "it is the capital, after all."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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