Minasoko ni chichi no hikari wa utsuredomo mukashi no kage wa miezu zo arikeru

English Translation

Deep in the water
the thousand lights, my father's,
are mirrored there, yet
his form of days gone by
is nowhere to be seen.

Meaning

Deep in the water the thousand lights are mirrored, yet the form of my father from days gone by is nowhere to be seen.

Commentary

Book Eight Lament Poems 809

Headnote: "When a Ten-Thousand Lamp Service was held for the Lay Priest Regent."
This is the second poem of the sequence on grief at losing someone close. It says that the thousand lights are mirrored in the depths of the water, yet her father's form of old cannot be seen. According to the headnote, it was composed when a Ten-Thousand Lamp Service was held in memory of the Lay Priest Regent.
A daughter of Fujiwara no Kaneie, the author became a consort of Emperor En'yū and bore Emperor Ichijō, and later took holy orders and received the title Higashisanjōin. The "Lay Priest Regent" is the author's father, Fujiwara no Kaneie, son of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Morosuke, who served as regent and chancellor and took holy orders. He died in Shōryaku 1 (990).
The scene is the Ten-Thousand Lamp Service for Kaneie, set by water in which the lamps are mirrored.
The direct occasion is the Ten-Thousand Lamp Service held in memory of her father Kaneie.
The Ten-Thousand Lamp Service is a Buddhist rite in which a great many lamps are lit and offered to the Buddha in prayer for the removal of sins and for the repose of the dead.

The first line, "minasoko ni," means "in the depths of the water." It describes the lamps of the service mirrored on the water.
In the second line, "chichi no hikari wa," "chichi" is a pivot word meaning both "chiji," a thousand, many, and "chichi," father. Over the light of the many lamps lies the radiance of her late father.
In the third line, "utsuredomo," "utsure" means to be mirrored and "domo" is concessive, meaning "though they are mirrored."
In the fourth line, "mukashi no kage wa," "kage" means form or likeness. Setting "kage" against "hikari," light, in the second line, it says that though the light is mirrored, her father's form is not.
In the last line, "miezu zo arikeru," "zo" is an emphatic binding particle, completed by the attributive "keru." Though it is bright enough for the many lamps to be mirrored in the depths, only the form of her father of old, which she seeks, cannot be seen. Following the preceding poem, 808, which set the brightness of the moon against the darkness of mourning, this poem sets the light of the lamps against the unseen form, adding another lament for a lost father.

Author

Fujiwara no Senshi

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other