などか我つらき人ゆゑ物を思ふ
契りをしもは結びおきけん
契りをしもは結びおきけん
- Roma-ji
-
Nado ka ware tsuraki hito yue mono o omou chigiri o shimo wa musubiokiken
- English Translation
-
Why is it that I,
for one who is cold to me,
should brood in this way—
of all things, why did I tie
such a bond in lives before?
- Meaning
- Why, of all things, did I tie in some former life a bond that makes me brood so over one who is cold to me?
- Commentary
-
Miscellaneous Poems 1309
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "One hundred and ten love poems"
Why, of all things, did he tie in a former life a bond that makes him brood over one who is cold? the poet asks.
Continuing to question the karmic bond, he seems almost to resent his former self for binding him to love a cold person. Shimo wa stresses the lament, "of all bonds, this one."
First line, “nado ka ware”: nado ka is "why."
Second line, “tsuraki hito yue”: for one who is cold.
Third line, “mono o omou”: brooding.
Fourth line, “chigiri o shimo wa”: shimo is emphatic, "of all bonds."
Fifth line, “musubiokiken”: ken conjectures a past cause, "why did I tie it?"
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
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