Kaerikomu hodo o chigiramu to omoedomo oinuru mi koso sadamegatakere

English Translation

I would name the time
when I shall come back again,
and promise it so—
yet this body, grown so old,
is a thing I cannot fix.

Meaning

I would promise you the time of my return, yet a body as old as mine is not a thing I can fix a date upon.

Commentary

Book Nine Parting Poems 888

Headnote: "Composed when Morimitsu gave me a farewell as I went away to a distant place."
This is a poem on a parting where age makes the time of return impossible to promise. He would promise when he will come back, but old age leaves nothing fixed. According to the headnote, it was composed when Morimitsu gave him a farewell as he went down to a distant place.
The author's lay name was Fujiwara no Atsuyori, and he is said to have devoted himself to poetry into his old age.
The scene is his departure for a distant place, and the place is the capital.
The direct occasion was the farewell Morimitsu gave him as he went down to a distant place.
"Morimitsu" in the headnote is Minamoto no Morimitsu, known as a poet and one of those who gathered at Shun'e's Karin'en.

The first line, "kaerikomu," means "will return." It is the same opening as 878 and 882, so words that look toward the time of coming back are heard again.
The second line, "hodo o chigiramu to," means "meaning to promise that time." It repeats the words of 882, "hodo o ya hito ni chigiramashi," and shares with it the intention to promise and the failure to do so.
The third line, "omoedomo," means "though I think," turning by concession to the reason he cannot promise.
The fourth line, "oinuru mi koso," means "this body that has grown old," the particle "koso" forming a concord with the perfective form at the close.
The last line, "sadamegatakere," means "cannot be fixed," closing in the perfective form in response to "koso." Where 882 speaks of his own insignificance and the preceding poem of not crossing the mountain of death, this poem gives old age as its reason, and as in 867 and 878, age returns as the ground for doubting a reunion.

Author

Dōin

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other