Omoedomo sadame naki yo no hakanasa ni itsu o mate to mo e koso tanomene

English Translation

Though I think of you,
in the frailty of this world
where nothing is sure,
when to wait for my return
I cannot bid you trust.

Meaning

Though I think of you, in the frailty of this uncertain world I cannot give you any promise of when to wait for me.

Commentary

Book Nine Parting Poems 879

Headnote: "Composed when setting out on religious austerities."
This is the first poem of a sequence on partings where the time of return cannot be promised. Though the speaker thinks of the one left behind, the frailty of an uncertain world means he cannot give any promise of when to wait. According to the headnote, it was composed as he set out on his austerities.
The author was a son of Imperial Adviser Minamoto no Motohira, became a monk of Onjōji, practiced austerities in Ōmine and elsewhere, and rose to Tendai Abbot and Archbishop.
The scene is his departure on religious austerities, and the place is not recorded.
The direct occasion was his setting out on religious austerities.

The first line, "omoedomo," means "though I think." It is the same word as the third line of 870, used for a reunion that feeling alone cannot bring about.
The second line, "sadame naki yo no," means "of a world without certainty," pointing to the Buddhist sense of an impermanent world.
The third line, "hakanasa ni," means "because of its frailty," with "ni" expressing cause.
The fourth line, "itsu o mate to mo," means "when to wait," referring to naming a time of return and asking another to wait.
The last line, "e koso tanomene," means "I cannot make you rely on it," the adverb "e" pairing with the negative to express impossibility and closing in "ne," the perfective form of the negative "zu," in response to the particle "koso." "Tanome" is a lower bigrade verb meaning "to make someone rely on." Poem 872, also by a monk setting out on austerities, ends with "kokochi koso sene," so the two poems of departure for religious practice share the same "koso ... ne" closing. Where the preceding poem speaks for one who waits and grows old, this poem speaks for the one departing who cannot promise when he will return.

Author

Gyōson

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other