あしひきの山たちはなれ行く雲の
宿り定めぬ世にこそありけれ
宿り定めぬ世にこそありけれ
- Roma-ji
-
Ashihiki no yama tachihanare yuku kumo no yadori sadamenu yo ni koso arikere
- English Translation
-
From the foot-dragging
mountains the clouds break away
and drift on their path—
unsettled in their lodging,
so, I see, is this world of ours.
- Meaning
- Like the clouds that part from the mountain and drift away, never settling on a place to rest, so too, I have come to see, is this world.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Names of Things 430
Headnote: "Tachibana orange"
This poem realizes that the world, like clouds drifting away from the mountains, has no fixed resting place. The title "tachibana" (mandarin orange) is hidden in "yama tachihanare" in the second line. It is a reflective poem that overlays the impermanent world on clouds whose course is never settled.
The poet, "Ono no Shigekage," is Ono no Shigekage. He appears to have been an official of the Ono clan, but the details of his career are not known.
First line "Ashihiki no" is a pillow word modifying "yama" (mountain).
Second line "yama tachihanare" means "breaking away from the mountains," and the title "tachibana" is hidden here.
Third line "yuku kumo no" uses "no" as a subject marker: the clouds settle nowhere, and this itself becomes a figure for the unsettled world.
Fourth line "yadori sadamenu" means "fixing no place to lodge," overlaying the drifting clouds on the uncertainty of the world.
Fifth line "yo ni koso arikere" closes in the perfective "kere" in answer to "koso." "Keri" conveys the sigh of realization that such is indeed the world.
- Author
- Ono no Shigekage
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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