わくらばに訪はれし人も昔にて
それより庭の跡は絶えにき
それより庭の跡は絶えにき
- Roma-ji
-
Wakuraba ni towareshi hito mo mukashi nite sore yori niwa no ato wa taeniki
- English Translation
-
Even the rare one
who once came to visit me
is now of the past—
since then in my garden
every footprint has ceased.
- Meaning
- Even the rare visitor who once came to me belongs to the past now, and since then every footprint in my garden has vanished.
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1686
Headnote: "Composed on the spirit of living in seclusion, when Prince-Priest Shukaku had fifty-poem sequences composed."
This is the third poem of the sequence on masterless houses and visits that have ceased. Even the rare visitor belongs now to the past, and since then every footprint in the garden has vanished. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic of living in seclusion when Prince-Priest Shukaku had fifty-poem sequences composed.
The author, "Teika Ason," was a son of Fujiwara no Shunzei and one of the compilers of the Shin Kokinshū. He later compiled the Shin Chokusenshū alone.
Prince-Priest Shukaku was a son of Emperor Go-Shirakawa who lived at Ninnaji and was called Omuro.
The first line, "wakuraba ni," means "now and then, rarely." It begins with the same word as the first line of 1662 in this book.
The second line, "towareshi hito mo," means "even the one who visited me."
The third line, "mukashi nite," means "having become the past."
The fourth line, "sore yori niwa no," means "since then, in the garden."
The last line, "ato wa taeniki," means "footprints have ceased." It closes with the perfective "ni" and the past "ki," declaring the state of a secluded dwelling no one visits. It sings the ruined houses of the two preceding poems from the side of the one who lives there, and closes the sequence.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Teika
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Inishie o omoiyarite zo koiwataru aretaru yado no koke no ishibashi
- Next Poem
-
Nageki koru mi wa yama nagara sugusekashi ukiyo no naka ni nani kaeruran