Omowanedo yo o somukamu to iu hito no onaji kazu ni ya ware mo naru ramu - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

思はねど世を背かむといふ人の
同じ数にや我もなるらむ

Roma-ji: Omowanedo yo o somukamu to iu hito no onaji kazu ni ya ware mo naru ramu
English Translation: Though they mean it not,
there are those who say they will
turn from the world;
am I, too, it seems, becoming
one among their number now?
Meaning: There are people who say they will turn from the world without truly meaning it; am I, too, becoming one of their number?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1747

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the first of the poems on turning from the world. He wonders whether he too is becoming one of those who say they will leave the world without truly meaning it. Though a monk, he reflects on his own failure to cast off the world. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Former Archbishop Jien," is Jien. A son of Fujiwara no Tadamichi and younger brother of Kujō Kanezane, he served four times as Tendai abbot and wrote the historical treatise Gukanshō.

The first line, "omowanedo," means "though they do not truly think so." "Do" is concessive.
The second line, "yo o somukamu to," means "I will turn from the world, take vows." "Mu" expresses intention.
The third line, "iu hito no," is people who say so only with their lips.
In the fourth line, "onaji kazu ni ya," "ya" is a particle of question. It means "among the same number" as those who speak only with their lips.
The last line, "ware mo naru ramu," closes the kakari-musubi of "ya" with the attributive form of the present conjectural "ramu." He sternly asks himself whether he is not one of them.
Author: Jien
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Kaku shitsutsu yūbe no kumo to narimoseba aware kaketemo tare ka shinobamu
Next Poem: Kazu naranu mi o mo kokoro no mochigao ni ukarete wa mata kaerikinikeri