Itsu nageki itsu omoubeki koto nareba nochi no yo shirade hito no suguran

English Translation

When to lament,
when to think upon it, then,
if not now, that people
pass their days without a thought
of the world that is to come?

Meaning

When, then, are we to lament, when to think on it, that people pass their days knowing nothing of the world to come?

Commentary

Book Eight Lament Poems 831

Headnote: "On the heart of impermanence."
This is the first poem of the sequence on the heart of impermanence. It asks when people think they should lament and reflect, that they pass their days without knowing the world to come. According to the headnote, it was composed on "the heart of impermanence."
The author's lay name was Satō Norikiyo; he had been a warrior of the Northern Guard under Retired Emperor Toba but took holy orders at twenty-three and traveled through the provinces composing poems.
The scene and place are not recorded.
The direct occasion is composing on the topic "the heart of impermanence."
In the text, the last line carries a note changing "mu" in "sumuran" to "ku." The note is followed here, reading "suguran."

The first line, "itsu nageki," means "when to lament." It speaks of the time when one should lament death.
In the second line, "itsu omoubeki," "beki" expresses what ought to be, meaning "when one should reflect." Repeating the first line, it asks when, if not now, one should lament and reflect.
In the third line, "koto nareba," "nareba" means "since it is." It gives the reason, "since it is a matter to lament and reflect on at some other time," and leads into "ran" in the last line.
In the fourth line, "nochi no yo shirade," "nochi no yo" is the world after death, the next life. "De" is a negative connective, meaning "without knowing the next life."
In the last line, "hito no suguran," "sugu" means to pass one's days. "Ran" expresses conjecture about a cause, meaning "why do people pass their days so?" Though impermanence is something to lament and reflect on at once, people spend their days without regard for the next life. From the poems mourning particular deaths that ran to the preceding poem, 830, the book moves here to poems on impermanence itself as a topic, and Jien's poems on impermanence follow from the next poem, 832, to 835.

Author

Saigyō

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other