Kazu naranu mi wa naki mono ni nashihatetsu ta ga tame ni ka wa yo o mo uramimu - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

数ならぬ身はなきものになしはてつ
誰がためにかは世をも恨みむ

Roma-ji: Kazu naranu mi wa naki mono ni nashihatetsu ta ga tame ni ka wa yo o mo uramimu
English Translation: This worthless self
I have made as good as gone,
as nothing at all;
so for whose sake, after all,
should I resent the world?
Meaning: I have made this worthless self of mine as though it did not exist; for whose sake, then, should I resent the world?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1838

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the third of the poems on resenting and lamenting the world. He has resolved to count his worthless self as nothing; for whose sake, then, should he resent the world? It tells of a state of mind in which, once the self is made as nothing, there is no one left to resent. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Jakuren Hōshi," is Jakuren. His lay name was Fujiwara no Sadanaga; a nephew of Fujiwara no Shunzei, he was adopted as his son. After taking vows he remained active as a poet and was appointed a compiler of the Shin Kokinshū, but died before its completion.

The first line, "kazu naranu," means "of no account." It is the same as the first line of Gyōson's poem 1834 in this book.
The second line, "mi wa naki mono ni," means "this self, as nothing."
The third line, "nashihatetsu," means "I have made it wholly so." "Tsu" is perfective, showing a firm resolve, and the poem pauses here.
In the fourth line, "ta ga tame ni ka wa," "ka wa" is a rhetorical particle, meaning "for whose sake? For no one's."
The last line, "yo o mo uramimu," closes the kakari-musubi of "ka wa" with the attributive form of the conjectural "mu." Against the two preceding poems' resentment of the world, it offers the argument that if the self is nothing, there is no reason to resent.
Author: Jakuren
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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