Toshi mo henu inoru chigiri wa hatsuseyama onoe no kane no yoso no yūgure - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

年も経ぬ祈る契りは初瀬山
尾上の鐘のよその夕暮

Roma-ji: Toshi mo henu inoru chigiri wa hatsuseyama onoe no kane no yoso no yūgure
English Translation: The years too have passed:
the vow I pray for is like
Hatsuse's mountain,
where the bell upon the peak tolls
an evening not my own.
Meaning: The years too have gone by. The vow I pray for is like the bell on the peak of Mount Hatsuse, tolling an evening that belongs to someone else.
Commentary: Book Twelve Love Poems II 1142

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When a hundred-poem contest was held at his house; on the idea of 'Praying for Love.'"
This is the third of three poems on a love that lasts through the years and on prayer. The years have passed in prayer, yet the vow prayed for is like the bell on the peak of Mount Hatsuse, tolling an evening that is someone else's. The headnote continues from the preceding poem; it was composed on the topic "Praying for Love" for the hundred-poem contest at the house of the Regent and Grand Chancellor, Fujiwara no Yoshitsune.
The author is Fujiwara no Teika; "Ason" in the original name is an honorific for officials of the fifth rank and above. He was the son of Fujiwara no Shunzei and one of the compilers of the Shin Kokinshū.
Hatsuse, in Yamato Province (Sakurai, Nara Prefecture), is a poetic place-name, home to Hasedera, famed for pilgrimages to Kannon. The source poem is Minamoto no Toshiyori's Senzaishū poem, "I never prayed that she, so cold to me, should grow harsher still, like the wind down Hatsuse's mountain."

The first line, "toshi mo henu," means "the years too have passed," and the poem breaks after the first line. Taking up "toshi hete mo" in poem 1140 of this book, it speaks of years gone by in prayer.
The second line, "inoru chigiri wa," means "the vow of love I pray for," taking up the praying for love of the preceding poem.
The third line, "hatsuseyama," is the mountain of Hasedera, famed for pilgrimages to Kannon, taking "Hatsuse" from the source poem.
The fourth line, "onoe no kane no," means "of the bell on the peak," the evening bell of Hasedera.
The last line, "yoso no yūgure," means "an evening that belongs to someone else," ending on a noun. Evening is the hour of waiting for a lover's visit, yet the bell tolls with no bearing on the speaker. Taking up the source poem's lament over the futility of prayer, it entrusts to the sound of the bell a prayer still unanswered after years.
Author: Fujiwara no Teika
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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