老いぬとも又も逢はんと行く年に
涙の玉を手向けつるかな
涙の玉を手向けつるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Oinu tomo mata mo awan to yuku toshi ni namida no tama o tamuketsuru kana
- English Translation
-
Though I may grow old,
hoping we shall meet again,
to the parting year
I have offered, as a gift,
the jewels of my tears.
- Meaning
- Though I have grown old, I have offered the jewels of my tears to the departing year, hoping we shall meet again.
- Commentary
-
Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1586
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the tenth poem of the sequence on winter. Though grown old, the poet has offered the jewels of his tears to the departing year, hoping to meet again. The headnote reads "topic unknown," and records nothing of the circumstances of composition.
The author, "Master of the Empress Dowager's Household Shunzei," is Fujiwara no Shunzei. He was the son of Fujiwara no Toshitada and the father of Teika. He served as Master of the Empress Dowager's Household and took the tonsure in Angen 2 (1176). He compiled the Senzai Wakashū.
The first line, "oinu tomo," means "though I have grown old."
The second line, "mata mo awan to," means "that we may meet again." It shows the wish to live to meet the coming year as well.
The third line, "yuku toshi ni," means "to the departing year." It likens the parting at the year's end to a departure on a journey.
The fourth line, "namida no tama o," likens tears to jewels. They are likened to the offerings made to one setting out on a journey.
The last line, "tamuketsuru kana," adds the exclamatory "kana" to the perfective "tsuru." Likening the departing year to a traveler and offering it his tears, it entrusts an old man's farewell at the year's end to the poem, leading to the closing poem of the book.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Shunzei
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Mishi yume o izure no yo zo to omou ma ni ori o wasurenu hana no kanashisa
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Ōkata ni suguru tsukihi to nagameshi wa waga mi ni toshi no tsumoru narikeri