Tare ka yo ni nagaraete min kakitomeshi ato wa kiesenu katami naredomo

English Translation

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.

Meaning

Who will live on in this world to keep looking at them? The brush traces written down are a keepsake that will not vanish—and yet.

Commentary

Book Eight Lament Poems 817

Headnote: "Sent to Kaga no Shōnagon on finding among my things the letters I had always written back and forth freely with Koshōshō of Jōtōmon'in's household, after she had died."
This is the second poem of the sequence remembering the dead through things and places they left behind, and the opening poem of an exchange. It says that though the brush traces written down are a keepsake that will not vanish, no one will live on in this world to keep looking at them. According to the headnote, after Koshōshō of Jōtōmon'in's household died, the author found among her things the letters they had always exchanged in friendship and sent this poem to Kaga no Shōnagon.
A daughter of Fujiwara no Tametoki, the author served Jōtōmon'in and wrote The Tale of Genji. "Koshōshō of Jōtōmon'in's household" was a lady-in-waiting to Jōtōmon'in and a close friend of the author. "Kaga no Shōnagon" was also a lady-in-waiting to Jōtōmon'in.
The scene is the time after Koshōshō's death, and the place is not recorded.
The direct occasion is finding the letters she had exchanged with the late Koshōshō.
This poem and the reply in the next poem also appear in the author's personal collection, Murasaki Shikibu shū.

In the first line, "tare ka yo ni," "ka" is a rhetorical binding particle, completed by the attributive "n" in the second line. It means "who in this world."
The second line, "nagaraete min," means "could live on to see them? No one could." The poem pauses after the second line.
The third line, "kakitomeshi," means "written down." "Shi" marks the past, referring to the letters exchanged with the dead.
In the fourth line, "ato wa kiesenu," "ato" is the brush trace. "Kiesenu" means "that does not vanish."
In the last line, "katami naredomo," "domo" is concessive, meaning "though it is a keepsake." Through inversion, the reasoning that though the keepsake remains, no one who looks at it lives forever is shown at the end. Where 805 to 807 of this book sang of handwriting as a lasting keepsake, this poem turns the reasoning around: though the keepsake does not vanish, the life of the one who looks at it does not last. The next poem, 818, replies by taking up this lament.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other