Waga gotoku ware o tazuneba ama obune hito mo nagisa no ato to kotae yo

English Translation

If someone seeks me
just as I am seeking him,
tell him, fisher's boat,
that on the shore where no one stays
there are only traces left.

Meaning

If anyone comes looking for me as I have been looking for him, little fishing boat, tell him there are only traces left on the shore, where no one remains.

Commentary

Book Ten Travel Poems 917

Headnote: "Composed when, practicing austerities along the rocky coast, he lost track of the one companion who had come with him, and as he returned toward the cave where they had stayed, he saw a fisherman and gave him this, saying, 'If an ascetic comes by, give him this.'"
This is the fourth of a sequence of poems on distant journeys and travel by water. The speaker asks the fishing boat to tell anyone who seeks him as he seeks his companion that only traces remain on the empty shore, a message for a lost fellow practitioner. According to the headnote, having lost the one companion on his ascetic journey along the coast, he gave this to a fisherman as he returned to their cave, asking him to pass it to the ascetic if he appeared.
The author, Gyōson, was a Tendai monk of the late Heian period. A son of Consultant Minamoto no Motohira, he trained at Onjōji and practiced austerities in mountains such as Ōmine and Kumano. He later became Tendai Abbot and Grand Archbishop.
The scene is a journey of ascetic practice along the coast, on the shore near a cave on the seaside path of practice.
The direct occasion is losing track of his companion in practice.

The first line, "waga gotoku," means "as I do." It shows the thought "just as I am searching for my companion."
The second line, "ware o tazuneba," means "if someone seeks me." The irrealis form with "ba" makes a supposition. It shows two separated people searching for each other.
The third line, "ama obune," addresses the small boat of a fisherman. The one entrusted with the message is called by the name of the boat, and after "fune nagara" in the preceding poem, the scene of boats continues.
In the fourth line, "hito mo nagisa no," "nagisa" carries both "naki," "there is no one," and "nagisa," "the shore." The lonely scene of a shore without a soul is held in one word.
The last line, "ato to kotae yo," means "tell him there are only traces on the empty shore." It closes by entrusting the message in the imperative. Where 902 thinks of one who travels alone with "hitori ya kimi ga," this poem is by a traveler left alone after losing his companion, and the traces left behind hold the loneliness of two who have lost each other.

Author

Gyōson

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other