千年経る松だに朽つる世の中に
今日とも知らで立てる我かな
今日とも知らで立てる我かな
- Roma-ji
-
Chitose furu matsu dani kutsuru yo no naka ni kyō to mo shirade tateru ware kana
- English Translation
-
In a world where even
the pine that lives a thousand years
comes to rot away,
here I stand, not knowing that
today may be my last.
- Meaning
- In a world where even a pine that lives a thousand years decays, here I stand, not knowing that today may be my last.
- Commentary
-
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1791
Headnote: "On seeing a pine tree that had burned."
This is the fifth of the poems on impermanence, and with it poems on the pine begin. In a world where even a pine said to live a thousand years decays, he stands unaware that today may be his last. According to the headnote, it was composed on seeing a pine that had burned; in the loss of the pine, symbol of long life, he feels the frailty of his own.
The author, "Holy Man Shōkū," was a Tendai monk of the mid-Heian period who founded the temple Engyōji on Mount Shosha in Harima Province.
The first line, "chitose furu," means "passing a thousand years." The pine was held to live a thousand years.
In the second line, "matsu dani kutsuru," "dani" is an adverbial particle meaning "even." Showing that even the long-lived pine decays, it implies how much more so a human life.
The third line, "yo no naka ni," means "in such an impermanent world."
The fourth line, "kyō to mo shirade," means "not knowing it may be today." "De" is a negative conjunctive particle.
In the last line, "tateru ware kana," "ru" is the attributive of the continuative "ri" and "kana" exclamatory. He sees himself as one standing like the burned pine, and laments impermanence. Poems on the pine continue from the next poem.
- Author
- Shōkū
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Koshikata o sanagara yume ni nashitsureba samuru utsutsu no naki zo kanashiki
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Kazu narade yo ni Suminoe no miotsukushi itsu o matsu tomo naki mi narikeri