Nageki koru mi wa yama nagara sugusekashi ukiyo no naka ni nani kaeruran - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

なげきこる身は山ながら過ぐせかし
憂き世の中に何帰るらん

Roma-ji: Nageki koru mi wa yama nagara sugusekashi ukiyo no naka ni nani kaeruran
English Translation: You who cut the logs
of grief, stay here in the hills
and pass your days so—
back into the weary world,
why, then, do you return?
Meaning: You who cut the logs of grief, why not live out your days in the mountains? Why go back to this weary world?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1687

Headnote: "On seeing many mountain folk I met on the road when I was going somewhere."
This is a single poem on mountain folk. To woodcutters who cut logs of grief, the poet says that such people might as well stay in the mountains, and asks why they return to the weary world. According to the headnote, it was composed on seeing many mountain folk on the road as she was going somewhere.
The author, "Akazome Emon," was a daughter of Akazome no Tokimochi and became the wife of Ōe no Masahira. She served Rinshi, wife of Fujiwara no Michinaga, and their daughter Empress Shōshi.

The first line, "nageki koru," pivots on "nageki," both "grief" and "nage-ki," logs for firewood. "Cut" and "thrown logs" are associated words.
The second line, "mi wa yama nagara," means "yourselves, just as you are in the mountains."
The third line, "sugusekashi," means "you might as well pass your days so." "Kashi" is a final particle pressing the point, and the poem breaks here after the third line.
The fourth line, "ukiyo no naka ni," means "into the weary world."
The last line, "nani kaeruran," means "why do you return?" "Ran" conjectures the cause. Seeing the woodcutter's life as that of one heaping up grief, it asks about the heart that cannot give up the world: if one grieves, why not stay in the hills? Like 1641 and 1669 in this book, it uses the wordplay on "nageki."
Author: Akazome Emon
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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