Ukishizumi komu yo wa sate mo ika ni zo to kokoro ni toite kotaekanenuru - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

浮き沈み来む世はさてもいかにぞと
心に問ひて答へかねぬる

Roma-ji: Ukishizumi komu yo wa sate mo ika ni zo to kokoro ni toite kotaekanenuru
English Translation: This world of rising
and sinking aside—and the next,
what of that? I ask,
putting the question to my heart,
and find I cannot answer.
Meaning: Leaving aside this world of rising and sinking, what of the world to come? I ask my own heart, and cannot answer.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1765

Headnote: "For the Poetry Contest in Fifteen Hundred Rounds."
This is the first of the poems on a heart that loathes the world yet cannot cast it off, and the first of three by Fujiwara no Yoshitsune. This world of rising and sinking aside, what of the next? He asks his own heart and cannot answer. His anxiety about the next life is set out as a dialogue with himself.
The author, "Sesshō Daijō Daijin," is Fujiwara no Yoshitsune. The son of Kujō Kanezane, he rose to Regent and Chancellor. He wrote the kana preface to the Shin Kokinshū and was also a fine calligrapher.
The Poetry Contest in Fifteen Hundred Rounds was held by Retired Emperor Go-Toba, who had thirty poets each compose a hundred poems to be matched; it was the largest poetry contest in history.

The first line, "ukishizumi," is rising and sinking, the rise and fall of fortune in this world.
The second line, "komu yo wa sate mo," means "and the world to come?" "Komu yo" is the next life, contrasted with this world of the first line.
The third line, "ika ni zo to," means "what will it be?" in the form of a question.
The fourth line, "kokoro ni toite," means "asking my heart," showing that the questioner and the questioned are the same self.
The last line, "kotaekanenuru," means "I cannot answer." Breaking off on the attributive "nuru" with a sigh, it leaves as an afterimage the unease of one with no answer about the next life.
Author: Fujiwara no Yoshitsune
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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