Onozukara iwanu o shitau hito ya aru to yasurau hodo ni toshi no kurenuru

English Translation

Might someone, perhaps,
long for me without a word
from me to prompt them?
While I lingered, wondering,
the year has reached its end

Meaning

Wondering whether someone might come to miss me of their own accord, without my saying a word, I hesitated—and the year has drawn to its close.

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 691

Headnote: "Sent to someone at the end of the year."
This is the first poem of the year's-end sequence. While the speaker hesitated, wondering whether someone might miss him of their own accord without his saying a word, the year came to its end. According to the headnote, it was sent to someone at the end of the year.
The author, "Saigyō Hōshi," is Saigyō. His lay name was Satō Norikiyo, and he served Retired Emperor Toba as a warrior of the Northern Guard, but took holy orders at twenty-three, traveled through the provinces, and left the poetry collection Sankashū.
The scene is the end of the year, and the place is the author's dwelling.
The direct occasion is sending a poem as a message to someone at the end of the year.

The first line, "onozukara," means "of their own accord," without any urging from oneself.
The second line, "iwanu o shitau," means "longing for me though I say nothing."
The third line, "hito ya aru to," means "wondering whether there is such a person," with "ya" as an interrogative particle. It runs to six syllables, one over the count.
The fourth line, "yasurau hodo ni," means "while I hesitated."
The last line, "toshi no kurenuru," means "the year has drawn to its close," with "nuru" as the attributive form of the perfective auxiliary "nu," and closing on the attributive leaves a lingering resonance. The poem sings of a heart mingling loneliness and shyness: waiting for word from the other and hesitating, the year ended, and in the end the speaker sends the message himself. It turns from the winter scenes of the poems before to the year's-end sequence, standing at the start of the arrangement that leads to the close of the book.

Author

Saigyō

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other