憂き世出でしつきひの影のめぐり来て
変はらぬ道をまた照らすらむ
変はらぬ道をまた照らすらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Ukiyo ideshi tsukihi no kage no megurikite kawaranu michi o mata terasu ramu
- English Translation
-
The day you left
this world of sorrow, its sun and moon
have come round again,
and surely light once more
the path from which you have not strayed.
- Meaning
- The day on which you left the sorrowful world has come round again, and like the light of sun and moon it must shine once more on the path from which you have never strayed.
- Commentary
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Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1784
Headnote: "In reply to the priest Saigyō, who came out from his mountain village and told me that the day was the anniversary of the month and day on which he had taken vows long ago."
This is the fourth of the poems on the heart through the moon, and the last of three by Jien. The day on which Saigyō left the sorrowful world has come round again like the light of moon and sun and must be shining once more on the Buddhist path he has walked unchanged. According to the headnote, it replies to Saigyō, who came out from his mountain village and told Jien that it was the anniversary of his taking vows; it honors that anniversary.
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. No author is named in the original; the attribution continues from the preceding poem.
The first line, "ukiyo ideshi," means "who left the sorrowful world," that is, took vows. With six syllables, one over the norm, it refers to Saigyō's renunciation.
In the second line, "tsukihi no kage no," "tsukihi" is a pivot word meaning both the date of his taking vows and the moon and sun in the sky. "Kage" means light.
The third line, "megurikite," means "having come round," laying the return of the anniversary after a year over the circling of the moon and sun.
The fourth line, "kawaranu michi o," is the Buddhist path he has walked unchanged since taking vows.
In the last line, "mata terasu ramu," "ramu" is an auxiliary of present conjecture. In the light of moon and sun shining on the path, he praises the steadfastness of Saigyō's practice. Taking up the moon of the two preceding poems, it becomes a poem of light shining on the way.
- Author
- Jien
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Ika ni shite ima made yo ni wa ariake no tsukisenu mono o itou kokoro wa
- Next Poem
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Hito shirezu sonata o shinobu kokoro o ba katabuku tsuki ni tagutete zo yaru