Tsui ni yuku michi to wa kanete kikishikado kinō kyō to wa omowazarishi o - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

つひに行く道とはかねて聞きしかど
昨日今日とは思はざりしを

Roma-ji: Tsui ni yuku michi to wa kanete kikishikado kinō kyō to wa omowazarishi o
English Translation: That it was the road
all must travel in the end
I had heard before,
yet I never thought that it
would be yesterday or today.
Meaning: I had long heard that this is the road we all must take in the end, yet I never thought it would be so soon—yesterday, today.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Poems of Lament 861

Headnote: "Composed when he had fallen ill and grown weak"
This poem was composed when the poet had fallen ill and grown weak. He had long known that everyone dies in the end, but never thought it would come so close. It expresses without ornament his plain surprise and bewilderment in the face of death and is widely known as a death poem.
The poem also appears in the final episode of The Tales of Ise, closing the life of the tale's hero.
The author, Ariwara no Narihira, was a son of Prince Abo, himself a son of Emperor Heizei. He is one of the Six Poetic Immortals and one of the Thirty-Six Immortals of Poetry.

The first line, "to go at last," means the place one must go in the end.
The second line, "that it was the road, long," refers to the road of death, with kanete meaning beforehand.
The third line, "I had heard, but," uses the concessive do.
The fourth line, "yesterday or today," means so near at hand. Like "not knowing tomorrow" and "today" in 838 of this book, it measures the nearness of death in days.
The last line, "I had not thought," ends with the concessive exclamation o, leaving a lingering sense.
Author: Ariwara no Narihira
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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