Tazunekite ika ni aware to nagamuran ato naki yama no mine no shirakumo

English Translation

Having sought him out,
how sorrowfully he must
gaze on it now—
the white cloud on the peak
of the mountain with no trace.

Meaning

Having come all that way to seek him, with what sorrow he must be gazing now at the white cloud on the peak of a mountain where no trace of him remains.

Commentary

Book Eight Lament Poems 836

Headnote: "Sent when, hearing that Former Consultant Norinaga, who had been living in seclusion at Kōya, had fallen gravely ill, Lord Yorisuke went to him, and while he was on his way I heard that Norinaga had died."
This is the first poem of the sequence on consoling those who mourn a death. It wonders with what sorrow the visitor must be gazing at the white cloud on the peak of a mountain where no trace remains. According to the headnote, when Former Consultant Norinaga, secluded at Mount Kōya, was reported to be gravely ill, Lord Yorisuke set out to see him, and on hearing that Norinaga died while Yorisuke was on the way, the poet sent this poem to Yorisuke.
The author's lay name was Fujiwara no Sadanaga; a nephew of Fujiwara no Shunzei, he became Shunzei's adopted son. He took holy orders under the name Jakuren and was appointed one of the compilers of the Shin Kokin Wakashū. "Former Consultant Norinaga" is Fujiwara no Norinaga, son of Fujiwara no Tadanori, who became a Consultant. "Lord Yorisuke" is Norinaga's younger brother, Fujiwara no Yorisuke.
The scene is the time of Norinaga's death, set at Mount Kōya in Kii Province.
The direct occasion is that Yorisuke, on his way to visit his brother, heard of his brother's death.
Kōya is Mount Kōya in Kii Province, site of Kongōbuji, founded by Kūkai.

The first line, "tazunekite," means "having come all that way to seek him." It refers to Yorisuke, who set out for Mount Kōya to visit his brother.
In the second line, "ika ni aware to," "ika ni" means "how much." "Aware" is deep sorrow.
In the third line, "nagamuran," "nagamu" means to gaze long, lost in thought. "Ran" expresses present conjecture, imagining Yorisuke gazing now. The poem pauses after the third line.
In the fourth line, "ato naki yama no," "ato naki" means "with no trace of the dead." It speaks of a mountain where the one he went to meet is already gone.
The last line, "mine no shirakumo," ends on a noun. Through inversion, what is gazed at is placed at the end. Over the white cloud that leaves no trace lies the figure of Norinaga, who has gone without a trace. It echoes 821 of this book, which sang of the late emperor passing from smoke into cloud, in seeing the dead in a cloud. From the poems on impermanence that ran to the preceding poem, 835, the book moves here to a poem consoling one bereaved, and the next poem, 837, is also a poem of consolation.

Author

Jakuren

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other