Kaze ni nabiku fuji no keburi no sora ni kiete yukue mo shiranu waga omoi kana - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

風になびく富士の煙の空に消えて
ゆくへも知らぬわがおもひかな

Roma-ji: Kaze ni nabiku fuji no keburi no sora ni kiete yukue mo shiranu waga omoi kana
English Translation: Bending in the wind,
the smoke of Mount Fuji
fades into the sky—
not knowing where it will go,
this fire of longing in me.
Meaning: Like the smoke of Mount Fuji bending in the wind and vanishing into the sky, my longing drifts on, not knowing where it will go.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1615

Headnote: "Composed on Mount Fuji when I went on religious travels to the eastern provinces."
This is the second poem of the sequence on Mount Fuji. As the smoke of Fuji, bending in the wind, vanishes into the sky, so the poet's longing too knows not where it will go. According to the headnote, it was composed on Mount Fuji when he went on religious travels to the eastern provinces.
The author, "Saigyō Hōshi," was named Satō Norikiyo in lay life. A guard in the service of Retired Emperor Toba, he took holy orders at the age of twenty-three.
Saigyō himself is said to have counted this poem first among those he was proud of.

The first line, "kaze ni nabiku," is hypermetric, with six syllables. It first presents the movement of smoke bending in the wind.
The second line, "fuji no keburi no," takes up the same words as "fuji no keburi o" of the preceding poem, continuing the Fuji sequence.
The third line, "sora ni kiete," means "vanishing into the sky," and is also hypermetric, with six syllables. The smoke fading into the sky leads to "yukue mo shiranu" in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "yukue mo shiranu," means "not knowing where it goes." It overlays the smoke's course with the course of the poet's own heart.
The last line, "waga omoi kana," pivots on "omoi," both "longing" and the "fire" that produces the smoke. "Kana" is an exclamatory final particle. Using the same wordplay as "mi no omoi nite" in the preceding poem, it sets a heart drifting without direction against the lofty resolve to shun the world.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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