定めなき昔語りを数ふれば
我が身も数に入りぬべきかな
我が身も数に入りぬべきかな
- Roma-ji
-
Sadame naki mukashigatari o kazoureba waga mi mo kazu ni irinubeki kana
- English Translation
-
As I count the tales
of old, of lives that could not
be held for long,
it seems that I too must soon
be numbered among them.
- Meaning
- As I count over tales of the past in this uncertain world, it seems that I too must soon be numbered among the dead.
- Commentary
-
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1739
Headnote: "When I was unwell and a holy man I knew came to visit me."
A poem from a sickbed. As he counts over old tales of those who have died in this uncertain world, it seems he too must soon be counted among them. According to the headnote, it was composed when a holy man he knew came to visit him during an illness; talking with him of the dead, he feels his own death drawing near.
The author, "Archbishop Gyōson," is Gyōson. A son of Minamoto no Motohira, he became a monk of Onjōji and underwent severe austerities at Ōmine, Kumano, and elsewhere. He rose to Archbishop and also served as Tendai abbot.
The first line, "sadame naki," means "impermanent, unsettled," first setting out the uncertainty of the world.
The second line, "mukashigatari o," is old stories of people who have died, what he talked of with the visiting holy man.
The third line, "kazoureba," means "as I count them." "Ba" after the realis form marks a condition.
The fourth line, "waga mi mo kazu ni," means "I too, among their number." It takes up "kazou," to count, of the third line with "kazu," number, repeating the word.
In the last line, "irinubeki kana," "nubeshi" expresses confident conjecture, "surely will," and "kana" is exclamatory. Following the preceding poem's lament over one's end, it shows his foreboding of his own death.
- Author
- Gyōson
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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