Oiraku no tsukihi wa itodo hayasegawa kaeranu nami ni nururu sode kana - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

老いらくの月日はいとどはやせ川
返らぬ波に濡るる袖かな

Roma-ji: Oiraku no tsukihi wa itodo hayasegawa kaeranu nami ni nururu sode kana
English Translation: The days and months of age
rush on all the faster, like
a swift-flowing stream;
in its waves that never return
how wet my sleeves become.
Meaning: The months and days of old age run ever faster, like a swift stream, and my sleeves are wet in its waves that never return.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1776

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the second of the poems using the flow of rivers to lament one's lot. The months and days of age pass ever faster, like a swift stream, and his sleeves are wet in its waves that never return. He laments the years that pass and do not come back, likening them to a rushing river and waves that never return. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Great Bishop Kakuben," was a monk of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods who rose to the rank of Great Bishop.

The first line, "oiraku no," means "of old age."
The second line, "tsukihi wa itodo," means "the months and days, all the more." "Itodo" adds "even more than in youth."
In the third line, "hayasegawa," "haya" is a pivot word meaning both that the days are "quick" and the swift-flowing stream. Taking up the river boat of the preceding poem, poems on the river's flow continue.
The fourth line, "kaeranu nami ni," means "in the waves that never return," a figure for the days that pass and never come back.
The last line, "nururu sode kana," is sleeves wet with waves and with tears. "Kana" is exclamatory, showing the grief of age through tear-soaked sleeves.
Author: Kakuben
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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