君に我いかばかりなる契りありて
二なく物を思ひ初めけん
二なく物を思ひ初めけん
- Roma-ji
-
Kimi ni ware ika bakari naru chigiri arite futa naku mono o omoisomeken
- English Translation
-
Between you and me,
how deep a bond from past lives
there must surely be,
that I began to brood so,
with a love beyond compare.
- Meaning
- How deep a bond from some past life must there be between you and me, that I have come to brood over you so, beyond all compare.
- Commentary
-
Miscellaneous Poems 1303
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "One hundred and ten love poems"
How deep a karmic bond must there be between us, the poet wonders, that he began to brood over her beyond compare?
He seeks the depth of love's pain in a bond from past lives. Against the Buddhist idea of destiny from former lives, he feels this love was fated beyond his own will.
First line, “kimi ni ware”: I, toward you.
Second line, “ika bakari naru”: of how great a degree.
Third line, “chigiri arite”: chigiri is a bond from past lives; the line has an extra syllable.
Fourth line, “futa naku mono o”: brooding beyond compare.
Fifth line, “omoisomeken”: ken conjectures a past cause, "why did I begin?"
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
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Ware bakari mono omou hito ya mata mo aru to morokoshi made mo tazunete shi kana
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