Toshi no akete ukiyo no yume no samu beku wa kuru tomo kyō wa itowazaramashi

English Translation

If with the new year
I could wake up from the dream
of this sorrowful world,
though the year should end today
I would not wish it away

Meaning

If the dawning of the new year could wake me from the dream of this sorrowful world, then even though the year ends today, I would not resent it.

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 699

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the ninth poem of the year's-end sequence. If the dawning of the new year could wake one from the dream of this sorrowful world, the speaker says, he would not resent today, when the year ends. The headnote continues from the preceding poem with no topic given, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Former Archbishop Jien," is Jien. A son of the Regent Fujiwara no Tadamichi, he served four times as Tendai Abbot and wrote the historical work Gukanshō.
The scene is the last day of the year, and no place is specified.
The direct occasion is not recorded.

The first line, "toshi no akete," means "the year dawning anew" and runs to six syllables, one over the count.
The second line, "ukiyo no yume no," means "of the dream that is this sorrowful, uncertain world." Resting on Buddhist thought, it regards this world as a dream of delusion.
The third line, "samu beku wa," means "if it should wake," with "beku" as the continuative form of the auxiliary of expectation "beshi" and "wa" expressing supposition.
The fourth line, "kuru tomo kyō wa," means "though the year should end, this day."
The last line, "itowazaramashi," means "I would not resent it," with "mashi" as a counterfactual auxiliary. Presupposing the reality that the dream of this deluded world does not end even when the year turns, the poem says that if it did end, the speaker would not resent the year's end, turning a reasoned argument from the standpoint of the Buddhist path against the common notion of regretting the year's close. Following the preceding poem, which seemed to regret the one night left in the year, this poem overlays the turning of the year with awakening from delusion.

Author

Jien

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other