ささがにのいと世をかくて過ぎにける
人の人なる手にもかからで
人の人なる手にもかからで
- Roma-ji
-
Sasagani no ito yo o kakute suginikeru hito no hito naru te ni mo kakarade
- English Translation
-
Like a spider's thread,
truly so, hung out like this,
I've passed through the world,
never caught within the hands
of those who are as others are.
- Meaning
- Like a spider spinning its thread, truly in just this way I have passed through the world, never caught in the hands of people as others are.
- Commentary
-
One Hundred Poems 1552
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Miscellaneous Poems"
The closing poem of the miscellaneous ten, and the last of the book. Looking back on his life, he says he has passed through the world truly in this way, frail as a spider's thread, never falling into the hands of ordinary people.
With the figure of the spider's thread, it sings of a life lived alone without relying on others' favor or ties. Beginning with sasagani no like 1514 among the impermanence poems, it closes the hundred by using once more the figure of a fleeting world. Where 1453 at the head began by leaving the heart among the blossoms of Yoshino, the book ends with a life lived without being caught by anything.
First line, “sasagani no”: meaning spider, a pillow word for ito, the same first line as 1514.
Second line, “ito yo o kakute”: ito is a pivot word joining the spider's thread and ito, truly; kaku joins kaku, to hang a thread, and kaku, thus.
Third line, “suginikeru”: nikeru marks completion and past, "I have passed through"; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “hito no hito naru”: of people who are as others are.
Fifth line, “te ni mo kakarade”: de is a negative conjunctive, "without being caught in their hands"; kakaru is associated with the spider's thread, in inversion.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
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Nami takaki ashiya no oki o kakurebune no koto nakute yo o sugin to zo omou