繰り返し我が身の咎を求むれば
君もなき世にめぐるなりけり
君もなき世にめぐるなりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Kurikaeshi waga mi no toga o motomureba kimi mo naki yo ni meguru narikeri
- English Translation
-
Over and again
I search for what fault
lies within myself,
and find it is that I go round
in a world without my lord.
- Meaning
- Searching over and over for my own fault, I find it is that I still go on living in a world where my lord is no more.
- Commentary
-
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1742
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
A poem of self-examination. Searching again and again for his own fault, he finds it is that he lives on in a world without his lord. He takes as his own guilt that he survives the lord he served. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
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, "kurikaeshi," means "over and over." "Kuru" is a word for winding thread, and it echoes "meguru," to go round, in the last line.
The second line, "waga mi no toga o," is his own sin or fault.
The third line, "motomureba," means "when I search for it." "Ba" after the realis form leads to the answer in the lower verse.
The fourth line, "kimi mo naki yo ni," means "in a world without my lord," showing that the lord he served has passed away.
In the last line, "meguru narikeri," "keri" expresses realization. He comes to see that his very survival in a world without his lord is his fault, showing the grief of one left behind.
- Author
- Gyōson
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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