Sokohaka to omoitsuzukete kite mireba kotoshi no kyō mo sode wa nurekeri

English Translation

Thinking on and on
of this and that, I came
and looked, and found
that on this day this year too
my sleeves are wet with tears.

Meaning

Thinking on and on of this and that, I came here and looked—and on this same day this year, too, my sleeves are wet with tears.

Commentary

Book Eight Lament Poems 841

Headnote: "Composed on going to the grave at the close of the first anniversary after Imperial Prince-Priest Kakukai had passed away."
This is the first poem of the sequence remembering the dead at memorial services and graves. It says that coming to the grave, thinking on and on of this and that, he finds his sleeves wet on this day this year too. According to the headnote, it was composed on going to the grave at the close of the first-anniversary service after Imperial Prince-Priest Kakukai died.
The son of Chancellor Fujiwara no Tadamichi, the author served four times as head of the Tendai school and wrote the history Gukanshō. "Imperial Prince-Priest Kakukai" was a son of Emperor Toba who served as head of the Tendai school. The author was his disciple.
The scene is the close of the first anniversary of Kakukai's death, set at the grave.
The direct occasion is visiting the grave of his teacher Kakukai on the first anniversary.

The first line, "sokohaka to," means "of this and that, aimlessly."
The second line, "omoitsuzukete," means "thinking on and on" of his late teacher.
In the third line, "kite mireba," "ba" expresses a realized condition, meaning "when I came and looked."
In the fourth line, "kotoshi no kyō mo," "kyō" is the anniversary of his teacher's death. "Mo" adds the sense "this year, as on this day last year."
In the last line, "sode wa nurekeri," "keri" is exclamatory, meaning "my sleeves are wet with tears." It says that even after a year his grief has not changed. Following the preceding poem, 840, a visit to a son's grave, here he visits his teacher's grave on the first anniversary, and poems of graves and memorial services continue. It echoes 799 of this book, which sang that even after a year one cannot meet the dead, in marking time by a single year.

Author

Jien

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other