Ōkata ni suguru tsukihi to nagameshi wa waga mi ni toshi no tsumoru narikeri - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

おほかたに過ぐる月日とながめしは
我が身に年の積もるなりけり

Roma-ji: Ōkata ni suguru tsukihi to nagameshi wa waga mi ni toshi no tsumoru narikeri
English Translation: The days and the months
that I watched just passing by,
thinking them nothing—
they were the years that heaped up
upon this self of mine.
Meaning: The months and days I watched go by, thinking them ordinary, were in truth the years piling up upon me.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1587

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the eleventh poem of the sequence on winter and the closing poem of Book Sixteen. The months and days the poet watched pass as ordinary were in truth years piling up upon him. The headnote continues from the preceding poem, "topic unknown," and records nothing of the circumstances of composition.
The author, "Great Teacher Jikaku," is Ennin. A disciple of Saichō, he went to Tang China to study Buddhism and on his return became head of the Tendai school. Jikaku Daishi is the title conferred on him after his death.
Ariwara no Narihira's poem in the Kokin Wakashū, "Ōkata wa / tsuki o mo medeji / kore zo kono / tsumoreba hito no / oi to naru mono" ("I will not much admire the moon, for this is what, piling up, becomes a person's age"), sings of admiring the moon accumulating into old age. This poem likewise sees the accumulation of months and days as one's own aging.

The first line, "ōkata ni," means "as ordinary, in the usual way." It shows that he passed the months and days without heeding them.
The second line, "suguru tsukihi to," means "as months and days passing by."
The third line, "nagameshi wa," uses the past "shi," meaning "what I watched."
The fourth line, "waga mi ni toshi no," means "the years, upon myself." It echoes "ukiyo ni toshi no tsumorinuru kana" of 1538 in this book.
The last line, "tsumoru narikeri," closes with "keri," the exclamation of realization. Realizing that the months and days he watched idly had piled up as old age, it closes the book at the year's end. Whereas 1436, the opening poem of this book, welcomed spring after the tears of the year's end, the book closes with a poem realizing the years' accumulation, so that the opening and closing poems answer each other through the turning of the year.
Author: Ennin
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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