Ukiyo ni wa ima wa arashi no yamakaze ni kore ya nareyuku hajime naruran

English Translation

In this sorrowful world
I will stay no more, and now
the storm wind of the hills—
is this, I wonder, the start
of growing used to such a life?

Meaning

Now that I will stay no longer in this sorrowful world, the storm wind blows down the mountain—is this, I wonder, the beginning of growing used to such a life?

Commentary

Book Eight Lament Poems 795

Headnote: "When I was secluded at Hōrin in the autumn while in mourning for my mother, and the storm wind blew fiercely."
This is the twenty-first poem of the sequence remembering the dead through the things of autumn. It says that as the storm wind of the hills blows upon a heart resolved to stay no more in this sorrowful world, this may be the beginning of growing used to life in the mountains. According to the headnote, it was composed when he was secluded at Hōrinji in the autumn of his mourning for his mother and the storm wind blew fiercely.
The son of Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Toshitada, the author served as Master of the Empress Dowager's Household and compiled the Senzai Wakashū. He was the father of Fujiwara no Teika.
The scene is autumn during mourning for his mother, set at Hōrinji in Saga.
The direct occasion is the fierce storm wind that blew while he was secluded at Hōrinji in mourning for his mother.
Hōrinji is a temple on Arashiyama in Saga.

The first line, "ukiyo ni wa," means "in this sorrowful world."
In the second line, "ima wa arashi no," "arashi" is a pivot word meaning both "araji," I will stay no more, and "arashi," the storm wind that blows from the mountains. The heart that, having lost his mother, will stay no more in this sorrowful world is laid over the storm wind blowing at Hōrinji.
The third line, "yamakaze ni," takes up "arashi" in the second line and speaks of the wind blowing down from the mountain.
In the fourth line, "kore ya nareyuku," "ya" is an interrogative binding particle, completed by "ran" in the last line. "Nareyuku" means to grow gradually used to life in the mountains.
In the last line, "hajime naruran," "ran" expresses conjecture and, taking up "ya" in the fourth line, closes as "is this the beginning?" Thinking of a life in the mountains apart from the sorrowful world, he spends the autumn of mourning for his mother at a temple where the storm wind blows. Hōrinji also appears in the headnote of 785 of this book, and Saga becomes the setting once again. The next poem, 796, sings of the wind in the pines, continuing the sound of mountain winds.

Author

Fujiwara no Shunzei

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other