Kimi o ikade komaka ni yueru shigemeyui tachi mo hanarezu narabitsutsu min

君をいかで細かに結へる繁目結ひ
たちも離れず並びつつ見ん

Roma-ji: Kimi o ikade komaka ni yueru shigemeyui tachi mo hanarezu narabitsutsu min
English Translation: You, I long somehow,
like fine-knotted shibori
with its close-set eyes,
never torn and never parted,
to keep beside me, side by side.
Meaning: Somehow, like the close-set eyes of finely knotted shibori cloth, I want to stay always beside you, never cut away, never parting.
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1496

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Poems on Love"
The fourth of the ten poems on love. As the close-set eyes of finely knotted tie-dyed cloth stay side by side, he wishes never to leave his love's side but to look on always beside her.
Using a familiar thing, the pattern of dyed cloth, as a figure for love, it sings of the wish to be always near the beloved. Tachi joins cutting cloth with rising to leave, drawing the whole together with words associated with cloth.

First line, “kimi o ikade”: ikade means somehow; the line has an extra syllable.
Second line, “komaka ni yueru”: finely knotted.
Third line, “shigemeyui”: tie-dyed cloth pinched and bound with thread, its close-set eyes figuring things that never part.
Fourth line, “tachi mo hanarezu”: tachi is a pivot word joining cutting cloth and rising to leave, "never parting."
Fifth line, “narabitsutsu min”: n expresses intention, "I will gaze, side by side."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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