Ima zo kore irihi o mite mo omoikoshi mida no mikuni no yūgure no sora - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

今ぞこれ入日を見ても思ひこし
弥陀の御国の夕暮の空

Roma-ji: Ima zo kore irihi o mite mo omoikoshi mida no mikuni no yūgure no sora
English Translation: Now, this is it, here—
watching the setting sun, I
long imagined it,
Amida's own blessed land,
its sky at close of evening.
Meaning: Now, here it is at last—the evening sky over Amida's land that I imagined each time I watched the setting sun.
Commentary: Book Twenty Buddhist Poems 1967

Headnote: "When Bifukumon-in requested poems to be inscribed on paintings of the Gokuraku Rokuji San, composed on: 'At that time the great assembly, hearing the Law, will look up in ever greater joy.'"
This is the third poem in the sequence of poems by various poets on scriptural phrases and Buddhist observances. The evening sky of Amida's land, pictured each time the poet watched the setting sun in this world—now, at last, this is it. According to the headnote, it was composed when Bifukumon-in asked for poems to be inscribed on paintings of the Gokuraku Rokuji San, and it matches the phrase "At that time the great assembly, hearing the Law, will look up in ever greater joy."
It speaks from the standpoint of one reborn in paradise, rejoicing to behold in reality the evening of the Pure Land once imagined while watching the sun sink in the west.
No author is named in the text; continuing from the preceding poem, this is a poem by Kōtaigōgū no Daibu Shunzei, a son of Fujiwara no Toshitada and the poet who compiled the Senzai Wakashū. He took vows under the name Shakua and was the father of Fujiwara no Teika.
The Gokuraku Rokuji San is a hymn, attributed to Genshin, praising the splendors of paradise across the six periods of a day: dawn, midday, sunset, early night, midnight, and late night. Bifukumon-in was Fujiwara no Tokushi, empress of Emperor Toba and mother of Emperor Konoe.
The practice of contemplating paradise while watching the sun set in the west is known as the contemplation of the setting sun, taught in the Sutra of Contemplation on the Buddha of Immeasurable Life.

The first line, "ima zo kore," intensified by the particle "zo," marvels at the scene before one: now, this is it. The poem breaks after it.
The second line, "irihi o mite mo," means "whenever I watched the setting sun" in this world, recalling the contemplation of the setting sun.
The third line, "omoikoshi," means "have long imagined," using the attributive of the past "ki."
The fourth line, "mida no mikuni no," points to Amida Buddha's Pure Land of paradise.
The last line, "yūgure no sora," ends on a noun and corresponds to the sunset period of the Six Periods hymn. It overlays the setting sun of this world with the evening of the Pure Land, and the time of paradise moves on to the dawn of the next poem.
Author: Fujiwara no Shunzei
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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