世の中を思ひつらねてながむれば
むなしき空に消ゆる白雲
むなしき空に消ゆる白雲
- Roma-ji
-
Yo no naka o omoitsuranete nagamureba munashiki sora ni kiyuru shirakumo
- English Translation
-
As I gaze out, lost
in thought on the ways of the world,
one thing after another,
in the empty sky, white clouds
vanish away into nothing.
- Meaning
- As I gaze out, thinking over the ways of the world one after another, white clouds vanish into the empty sky.
- Commentary
-
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1846
Headnote: "A poem on impermanence from a hundred-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku."
This is the first of the poems on impermanence. As he gazes out, thinking over the ways of the world one after another, white clouds vanish into the empty sky. In the vanishing clouds he sees the impermanence by which all things in the world fade away. According to the headnote, it was composed on impermanence in a hundred-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Sutoku.
The author, "Kōtaigōgū no Daibu Shunzei," is Fujiwara no Shunzei. A son of Fujiwara no Toshitada, he compiled the Senzai Wakashū. He was the father of Fujiwara no Teika.
The first line, "yo no naka o," means "the ways of the world."
The second line, "omoitsuranete," means "thinking of one thing after another."
The third line, "nagamureba," means "as I gaze out lost in thought." "Ba" after the realis marks a condition.
The fourth line, "munashiki sora ni," means "into the empty sky." It also evokes the Buddhist teaching that all things lack substance.
The last line, "kiyuru shirakumo," ends on a noun, presenting the scene of vanishing white clouds. From the remembering heart of the preceding poem it turns to a scene of impermanence, and poems on impermanence continue to the end of the book.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Shunzei
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Yukusue wa ware o mo shinobu hito ya aramu mukashi o omou kokoronarai ni
- Next Poem
-
Kururu ma mo matsubeki yo ka wa Adashino no sueba no tsuyu ni arashi tatsu nari