Yume to koso iu bekarikere yo no naka ni utsutsu aru mono to omoikeru kana - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

夢とこそ言ふべかりけれ世の中に
うつつあるものと思ひけるかな

Roma-ji: Yume to koso iu bekarikere yo no naka ni utsutsu aru mono to omoikeru kana
English Translation: "A dream" is the name
that I ought to have given it;
in this world of ours
I had thought there was something
that was real, that was waking.
Meaning: I should have called this world a dream. How I once believed there was such a thing as reality in this world.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems of Lament 834

Headnote: "Composed when someone he had known well passed away"
This poem was composed when a close acquaintance died. Faced with death, the poet realizes that this world should have been called a dream, and looks back on himself for having believed in a firm reality. It inherits the idea of the preceding poem, that this world itself was the dream.
The author, Ki no Tsurayuki, was the leading compiler of the Kokinshū and wrote its Japanese preface. He is also known as the author of the Tosa Diary and is one of the Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry.

The first line, "a dream," is emphasized by koso as the name to be given to this world.
The second line, "I should have called it," closes in the realis kere after koso. Bekari expresses what is proper, and keri a newly realized feeling. The poem breaks after the second line.
The third line, "in this world," refers to the world in which people live.
The fourth line, "that reality exists," uses utsutsu, the waking reality set against dream. The "dream" of the preceding poem and the "reality" here form a pair.
The last line, "I had believed," is an exclamation over what the poet had thought until now, full of regret at his shallow understanding.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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