Nagekitsutsu kotoshi mo kurenu tsuyu no inochi ikeru bakari o omoide ni shite

English Translation

Grieving all the while,
this year too has reached its end—
a life as brief as dew,
with only this, that I still live,
to keep as its remembrance

Meaning

Grieving all the while, I have seen this year too come to its end—with nothing to remember it by but the fact that my dewdrop life still goes on.

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 695

Headnote: "On the spirit of the year's end, when ten poems were composed at the house of Lord Shunzei."
This is the fifth poem of the year's-end sequence. Grieving all the while, the speaker has seen this year too come to an end, with nothing to remember it by but that his dewdrop life still goes on. According to the headnote, it was composed on the spirit of the year's end when ten-poem sets were composed at the house of Fujiwara no Shunzei.
The author, "Shun'e Hōshi," is Shun'e. A son of Minamoto no Toshiyori, he became a monk of Tōdaiji and named his own quarters at Shirakawa the Karin'en, the Garden in the Poetic Grove, making it a gathering place for poets. He was the poetry teacher of Kamo no Chōmei.
The scene is the end of the year, and no place is specified.
The direct occasion is composing on the spirit of "The Year's End" when ten-poem sets were composed at the house of Fujiwara no Shunzei.

The first line, "nagekitsutsu," means "grieving all the while," with "tsutsu" expressing continuance. It shows a year spent in sorrow.
The second line, "kotoshi mo kurenu," means "this year too has ended," with "nu" as a perfective auxiliary. The poem breaks after the second line.
The third line, "tsuyu no inochi," refers to a life as fleeting and easily lost as dew, and runs to six syllables, one over the count.
The fourth line, "ikeru bakari o," means "only that I am still alive," with "ru" as the attributive form of the auxiliary of continuance "ri."
The last line, "omoide ni shite," means "as its remembrance." Looking back on the year there is only grief, and the one thing to remember it by is that a fleeting life has not yet vanished; the poem sings of a deep desolation. Where the preceding poem turned its eyes to the year to come, this poem looks back on the year now ending, and the "mo" of "kotoshi mo," this year too, shows that the same year of grief has repeated again and again.

Author

Shun'e

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other