Hitokire wa miyako o sutete izuredomo megurite wa nao kiso no kakehashi

ひときれは都を捨てて出づれども
巡りてはなほ木曽の懸け橋

Roma-ji: Hitokire wa miyako o sutete izuredomo megurite wa nao kiso no kakehashi
English Translation: Once I cast aside
the capital and left it,
setting forth from there,
yet circling round, I find I'm still
on the hanging bridge of Kiso.
Meaning: Once I cast off the capital and set out, yet after all my wanderings I find myself still on the precarious hanging bridge of Kiso.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1415

Headnote: none
Once he cast off the capital and set out, yet after all his wanderings he is still on the hanging bridge of Kiso, the poet says.
The hanging bridge of Kiso, a precarious walkway built along the cliffs of the Kiso valley in Shinano, was a poetic place; it seems to figure a self still unable to escape the perils of the world after renunciation. The poem contains hard-to-construe words and its meaning is unsettled; it is read here as above.

First line, “hitokire wa”: taken as "once."
Second line, “miyako o sutete”: casting off the capital.
Third line, “izuredomo”: though I set out.
Fourth line, “megurite wa nao”: circling round, still.
Fifth line, “kiso no kakehashi”: the hanging bridge of Kiso in Shinano, ending on a noun.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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