草の庵を厭ひてもまたいかがせん
露の命のかかる限りは
露の命のかかる限りは
- Roma-ji
-
Kusa no io o itoite mo mata ikaga sen tsuyu no inochi no kakaru kagiri wa
- English Translation
-
Though I shun this hut
of grasses, then again
what is there to do—
so long as this dewdrop life
clings on as it does now?
- Meaning
- Even if I grow weary of this grass hut, what can I do, so long as this dew-like life of mine clings on as it does?
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1661
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the fourth poem of the sequence on the heart of living in a mountain village. Even if he grows weary of his grass hut, there is nothing to be done so long as his dew-like life clings on. The headnote gives the topic as unknown and records nothing of the circumstances.
The author, "Saki no Daisōjō Jien," was a son of Regent Fujiwara no Tadamichi and a younger brother of Kujō Kanezane. He served four times as Tendai Abbot and wrote the historical treatise Gukanshō.
The first line, "kusa no io o," means "this hut thatched with grass." It is hypermetric, with six syllables.
The second line, "itoite mo mata," means "even if I shun it, then again." It shows the layering of one who shunned the world and entered the mountains, now shunning even the hut.
The third line, "ikaga sen," is a rhetorical question, "what can be done?" The poem breaks here after the third line. It is the same line as "ikaga sen," the third line of 1605 in this book.
The fourth line, "tsuyu no inochi no," means "of a life fleeting as dew." "Grass" in the first line and "dew" are associated words.
The last line, "kakaru kagiri wa," pivots on "kakaru," both dew "clinging" to grass and life being "thus." Through inversion, the reason nothing can be done is placed at the close. Where the three preceding poems sang of visitors to the mountain village, here the heart grows weary of the mountain hut itself.
- Author
- Jien
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Yamazato wa hito kosaseji to omowanedo towaruru koto zo utoku nariyuku
- Next Poem
-
Wakuraba ni nado ka wa hito no towazaran otonashigawa ni sumu mi nari tomo