Iisutete nochi no yukue o omoiideba sate sa wa ika ni urashima no hako

言ひ捨てて後の行方を思ひ出でば
さてさはいかに浦島の箱

Roma-ji: Iisutete nochi no yukue o omoiideba sate sa wa ika ni urashima no hako
English Translation: Words were left behind,
and if one should call to mind
what came after that—
well then, what would come of it,
Urashima's little box?
Meaning: If one thinks of what came after the warning was given and left behind—well then, what becomes of it, the box of Urashima?
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1521

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Poems on Impermanence"
The ninth of the ten poems on impermanence. Thinking of what followed after Urashima opened the box he had been told not to open, he asks what then becomes of it all.
Drawing on the legend of Urashima, who opened the jeweled box and aged in an instant, it seems to sing of the terror of time's passage and the brevity of life. Against the peaceful acceptance of death in the preceding poem, this one shows the shock of age and death arriving unawares.

First line, “iisutete”: having said it and left.
Second line, “nochi no yukue o”: what came afterward.
Third line, “omoiideba”: ba is hypothetical, "if one recalls it"; the line has an extra syllable.
Fourth line, “sate sa wa ika ni”: sa wa means then, "well then, what of it?"
Fifth line, “urashima no hako”: the jeweled box of the Urashima legend, which aged him when opened; ending on a noun.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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