Against the world's grief
even gods can do nothing—
so what is it that
you are praying for, wearing
your whole heart out in asking
- Meaning
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Against the grief of this world even the gods can do nothing—so what is it you are praying for, wearing your whole heart out in the asking?
- Commentary
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Volume Eight: The Skein of Thread
The Taira held councils about fixing a capital in Kyushu and building a palace, but nothing came of it. For the time being the emperor used the house of Ōkura Tanenao of Iwato as a temporary residence. The others' lodgings were scattered among fields and paddies, as though they were living in the village of Tōchi in Yamato. Tanenao's house, which had become the palace, stood deep among trees on a hill. Some said the rustic charm of a hut of unbarked logs was not unpleasing; it recalled the log palace built for Empress Saimei when she advanced to Asakura in Tsukushi during the Korean campaign.
From there the emperor made a progress to the Usa shrine. The chief priest Kimimichi's house became the palace, and the shrine buildings lodged the nobles and courtiers. Officials of the fifth and sixth ranks filled the galleries, and in the courtyard warriors from Shikoku and Kyushu stood in armor with bows and quivers, thick as cloud and mist. Even the old vermilion fences seemed newly bright. The party kept vigil there for seven days.
On the dawn of the last day, Munemori, who had prayed before the sanctuary for the destruction of the court's enemies and the rise of the Taira, took heart knowing his vigil would be completed at daybreak, and prayed on. As the light came and the hall grew faintly bright, the doors of the sanctuary opened without a sound, and a lofty voice spoke from within. This is what it said.
Munemori started awake and straightened himself. The voice spoke once and no more. His heart beat hard, and something ominous went through him. Considering what the words meant, his face darkened at once: against the state of this world, the power of gods does not reach.
A god says that gods can do nothing. It is an oracle, and what it announces is the god's own impotence.
Kokorozukushi ni means with all one's heart, with every thought spent—which describes Munemori's seven days exactly. That desperation is pronounced useless. The god neither grants nor admonishes; it simply says that praying is no use.
This is the fourth oracular poem in the tale. The one in Volume One admonished; the one in Volume Two promised; the one in Volume Seven instructed. This alone says that prayer is pointless. At the moment the gods' language turns coldest, the fate of the house is settled.
Munemori told no one of the dream. The vigil ended without incident, and as he rode back to Dazaifu with a party in good spirits, the tale says, there was a desolate smile on his face.
usa……wretchedness, the bitterness of the world.
kami mo naki mono wo……though even the gods are of no avail.
nani inoruran……what is it you are praying for?
kokorozukushi……spending one's whole heart; wearing oneself out in thought.
Usa Jingū……the Hachiman shrine in Buzen, regarded as an ancestral shrine of the imperial house.
Daigūji Kimimichi……the chief priest of Usa.
sanrō……to seclude oneself in a shrine or temple in prayer.
mangan……the completion of a set term of prayer.
ki no maro-dono……a temporary palace built of unbarked logs.
Tōchi no sato……a place in Yamato; a figure for humble lodgings.
- Source
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Heike Monogatari
- Other
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