Tanome okan tada sa bakari o chigiri nite ukiyo no naka no yume ni nashiteyo - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

頼めおかんたださばかりを契りにて
憂き世の中の夢になしてよ

Roma-ji: Tanome okan tada sa bakari o chigiri nite ukiyo no naka no yume ni nashiteyo
English Translation: I will leave that promise;
with that alone as the pledge
between the two of us,
let all within this sad world
become nothing but a dream
Meaning: I will give you that promise. With that alone as our pledge, let everything in this sorrowful world become only a dream.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1233

Headnote: "Reply."
This is the closing poem of Love Poems III, the fourteenth poem of the sequence on resenting a cold-hearted lover and enduring the pain, and a reply to the preceding poem. She will leave the promise for the next life; with that alone as their pledge, let everything in this sorrowful world be only a dream.
The author, "Mother of Teika Ason," is Bifukumon'in no Kaga. A daughter of Fujiwara no Chikatada, she served Bifukumon'in, Empress to Emperor Toba. She was first the wife of Fujiwara no Tametsune, and later became the wife of Fujiwara no Shunzei and bore Teika.

The first line, "tanome okan," means "I will leave a promise," and has six syllables, one more than the norm. It takes up exactly "tanome oke" of the preceding poem's third line, answering his command with her will, with a pause after the first line.
The second line, "tada sa bakari o," means "just that alone," pointing to the promise for the next life in the preceding poem's "nochi no yo to dani."
The third line, "chigiri nite," means "as our pledge."
The fourth line, "ukiyo no naka no," means "within this sorrowful world." Setting "this sorrowful world" against the "next life" of the preceding poem, it contrasts the life to come with this one.
The last line, "yume ni nashiteyo," means "make it a dream." She replies that the pain of love in this world should be forgotten as a dream, and only the promise for the next life relied upon. In this book, from 1159 on, there was a sequence likening lovers' meetings to dreams, but at the end of the book it is the very pain of love that becomes a dream. Where the opening poem wished for a life ending today, the closing exchange is bound by a pledge for the next life: Love Poems III begins with poems of life and meeting and closes with a poem that sees this world as a dream.
Author: Bifukumon'in no Kaga
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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