Kokoro o ba miru hito goto ni kurushimete nani ka wa tsuki no toridokoro naru

心をば見る人ごとに苦しめて
何かは月の取り所なる

Roma-ji: Kokoro o ba miru hito goto ni kurushimete nani ka wa tsuki no toridokoro naru
English Translation: Bringing pain upon
the hearts of all those who gaze
at it night by night,
what, I ask, is there about
the moon that's any good at all?
Meaning: Tormenting the heart of everyone who looks at it, what good is there in the moon at all?
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1410

Headnote: none
The moon torments the heart of each who sees it, so what good is it at all? the poet asks.
It casts as a complaint against the moon the fact that all who see it sink into brooding. Of course he does not truly reject the moon; it is a paradoxical lament born of love for it, taking up the complex feelings toward the moon of the preceding poems.

First line, “kokoro o ba”: the heart, stressed by o ba.
Second line, “miru hito goto ni”: of each one who sees it.
Third line, “kurushimete”: tormenting.
Fourth line, “nani ka wa tsuki no”: ka wa is rhetorical, "what of the moon."
Fifth line, “toridokoro naru”: answering ka wa, "is its merit? None."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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