昔より離れがたきは憂き世かな
かたみに忍ぶ仲ならねども
かたみに忍ぶ仲ならねども
- Roma-ji
-
Mukashi yori hanaregataki wa ukiyo kana katami ni shinobu naka naranedomo
- English Translation
-
From olden days on,
what is hardest to part from
is this world of grief,
though it is not as if we were
lovers yearning for each other.
- Meaning
- From long ago, what has been hardest to part from is this wretched world—though we are hardly lovers longing for each other.
- Commentary
-
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1832
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the tenth of the poems on loathing the world. What has always been hardest to part from is this wretched world, though the two are no lovers yearning for each other. Likening the world to a lover, he wittily speaks of his attachment to a world he finds hard to leave though there is no mutual longing.
The author, "Lay Priest and Former Chancellor," is Kujō Kanezane. A son of Fujiwara no Tadamichi, he served in turn as Regent, Chancellor, and Grand Minister, and later took vows. He left the diary Gyokuyō. He was the father of Fujiwara no Yoshitsune.
The first line, "mukashi yori," means "from long ago."
The second line, "hanaregataki wa," means "what is hard to part from," a phrasing that suggests the pain of parting lovers.
In the third line, "ukiyo kana," "kana" is exclamatory. Taking up the attachment to the world in the preceding poem, he declares that what is hard to leave is this wretched world, and the poem pauses here.
The fourth line, "katami ni shinobu," means "longing for each other." "Katami ni" is an adverb meaning "mutually."
The last line, "naka naranedomo," means "though we are not such a pair." Through inversion it gives afterward the witty point that it is hard to part though they are no lovers.
- Author
- Kujō Kanezane
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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