Yo no naka o ima wa no kokoro tsuku kara ni suginishi kata zo itodo koishiki - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

世の中を今はの心つくからに
過ぎにし方ぞいとど恋しき

Roma-ji: Yo no naka o ima wa no kokoro tsuku kara ni suginishi kata zo itodo koishiki
English Translation: No sooner has my heart
come to think, "The world is done
for me now," than all
the days that have gone by
become dearer than before.
Meaning: No sooner has the thought arisen that I am done with the world than the days gone by grow all the dearer to me.
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1823

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the first of the poems on loathing the world and the first of five by Jien. No sooner does the resolve arise to be done with the world than the days gone by grow dearer. He gazes at the contradiction of a heart in which the resolve to renounce the world stirs up longing for the past. 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, "yo no naka o," means "this world."
The second line, "ima wa no kokoro," is the resolve that "now it is over."
The third line, "tsuku kara ni," means "as soon as it arises." "Kara ni" means "no sooner than."
The fourth line, "suginishi kata zo," means "the days gone by." The particle "zo" reaches to the last line.
The last line, "itodo koishiki," closes the kakari-musubi of "zo" with the attributive form of the adjective "koishiki." The paradox that the harder he tries to let go the dearer the past becomes begins the series of Jien's poems on loathing the world.
Author: Jien
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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