The sorrow of my life
no one will tell for me;
O bird of evening call
at Ōsaka Pass,
cry that autumn, too, has waned.
- Meaning
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The wretched sorrow of my own life—no one else can tell it to him for me. O bird of the evening call at Ōsaka Pass, cry out with me that the long-awaited autumn, too, has come to its end.
- Commentary
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Volume Two, Asaji ga Yado.
Katsushirō, who found things troublesome, left his wife Miyaki at home and went to the capital to trade. After Katsushirō departed for the capital, the Kantō region where their home stood was engulfed in war.
Katsushirō told Miyaki that he would return in autumn, but he did not return, and the year drew to its close.
This is the poem composed by Miyaki as she waited for Katsushirō.
“The sorrow of my own life” is the feeling of wretchedness at relying only on her husband’s unreliable words and continuing to wait.
“no one will tell it” expresses her resolve that she will tell it to no one but herself.
The “yūdzuke bird” (evening-call bird) is another name for the chicken; the evening-call bird of Ōsaka Pass is a conventional poetic motif, often used as a figure for crying out in longing.
- Author
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Ueda Akinari
- Source
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Ugetsu Monogatari
- Other
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Like a plover on
waves of Matsuyama’s shore,
my traces go on
to the capital, yet I
cry with sound alone.
-
Even if, my lord,
the jeweled bed of old,
though you once lay there,
now that it has come to this,
what use could it be?
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Even so, my heart,
thinking he would return,
was taken in by it—
how have I lived in this world
till today, this life of mine?
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So greatly, even so,
the ancient Mama no Tegona
was loved like this—
so must she have been loved,
Mama no Tegona of Mama.