玉の緒の長きためしに引く人も
消ゆれば露に異ならぬかな
消ゆれば露に異ならぬかな
- Roma-ji
-
Tama no o no nagaki tameshi ni hiku hito mo kiyureba tsuyu ni kotonaranu kana
- English Translation
-
Even the one
cited as the model
of a long life's thread,
once he vanishes, is no
different from the dew.
- Meaning
- Even one who is cited as the very model of a long life, once he vanishes, is no different from the dew.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Lament Poems 815
Headnote: "Composed on hearing that the Onomiya Minister of the Right had died."
This is the second poem of the sequence on the lot of the dead. It says that even one cited as the model of a long life, once he vanishes, is no different from dew. According to the headnote, it was composed on hearing that the Onomiya Minister of the Right had died.
A son of Fujiwara no Michinaga, the author rose to Provisional Major Counselor and became the founder of the Mikohidari house of poetry. The "Onomiya Minister of the Right" is Fujiwara no Sanesuke, who rose to Minister of the Right and left the diary Shōyūki. He died in Eishō 1 (1046) at the age of ninety.
The scene is the time when he heard of Sanesuke's death, and the place is not recorded.
The direct occasion is hearing of Sanesuke's death.
In the first line, "tama no o no," "tama no o," the jeweled thread, is life. Through "o," thread, it leads into "nagaki," long, in the second line and "hiku," draw, in the third.
In the second line, "nagaki tameshi ni," "tameshi" means example or model. It means "as a model of a long life."
In the third line, "hiku hito mo," "hiku" means to cite as an example. The sense of drawing out a thread echoes in it, and it works as a word associated with "tama no o."
In the fourth line, "kiyureba tsuyu ni," "kiyureba" means "once he vanishes," speaking of a person's death. "Tsuyu," dew, is also a word associated with "tama," jewel.
The last line, "kotonaranu kana," means "is no different," and "kana" is exclamatory. Even one held up as the model of long life is, in death, the same as fleeting dew. Following the preceding poem, 814, in which the late empress told of her lot in a dream, this poem sings of the death of a long-lived man and shows the fleetingness of human life. The figure of dew, found since 775 of this book, here extends even to one who lived long.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Nagaie
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- Even as I say "how fleeting," all the more only tears fall down— such a world, tear-wet as this, I had placed my trust in it.
- If only someone were going to my old home— I would send word: "on an unknown mountain path I wander all alone."
- "I pine for you"— this at least, hear it, hear: in the temple bell's toll, not for the space of a moment can I forget you, ever.
- Who in this world will live on long to see it? The traces written down are a keepsake that will not vanish, though that may be so.