思ふべき我が後の世はあるかなきか
なければこそはこの世には住め
なければこそはこの世には住め
- Roma-ji
-
Omoubeki waga nochi no yo wa aru ka naki ka nakereba koso wa kono yo ni wa sume
- English Translation
-
That next life of mine
I ought to be thinking of—
does it exist or not?
It is because I have none
that I can dwell in this world.
- Meaning
- Does the next life I ought to think of exist for me or not? It is precisely because I have none that I can live on in this world.
- Commentary
-
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1827
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the fifth of the poems on loathing the world and the last of five by Jien. Does the next life he ought to think of exist or not? It is because he has no thought of it that he can live on in this world. He sternly reflects that were he truly to think of the next life, he could not remain in this one.
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, "omoubeki," means "that I ought to think of."
The second line, "waga nochi no yo wa," means "my next life."
The third line, "aru ka naki ka," means "does it exist or not?" Its six syllables, one over the norm, give weight to the question, and the poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "nakereba koso wa," means "precisely because there is none." The particle "koso" answers the last line.
The last line, "kono yo ni wa sume," closes the kakari-musubi of "koso" with the realis "sume." Saying that he can rest easy in this world only because he has no thought of the next, it closes Jien's five poems with self-reproach.
- Author
- Jien
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Nani yue ni kono yo o fukaku itou zo to hito no toekashi yasuku kotaemu
- Next Poem
-
Yo o itou na o dani mo sa wa todomeokite kazu naranu mi no omoide ni semu