世の中は夢か現か現とも
夢とも知らずありてなければ
夢とも知らずありてなければ
- Roma-ji
-
Yo no naka wa yume ka utsutsu ka utsutsu tomo yume tomo shirazu arite nakereba
- English Translation
-
Is this world a dream,
or is it reality?
As reality
or as dream I cannot know it,
for it is, and yet is not.
- Meaning
- Is this world a dream or is it real? I cannot tell whether it is real or a dream, for it exists and yet does not.
- Commentary
-
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems II 942
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem asks whether the world is a dream or reality, and answers that it cannot decide. The phrase "it is, and yet is not" captures the fleetingness of a world that exists without substance.
The repeated alternation of "dream" and "reality" expresses a doubt with no answer. The next poem, 943, uses the same expression, "it is and is not," to lament a fleeting self.
The author is recorded as anonymous, and the name has not come down to us.
The first line, "is this world," presents the theme.
The second line, "a dream, or is it reality?", uses the interrogative ka; the poem breaks after this line.
The third line, "as reality," takes up the words of the second line in reverse order, repeating the question.
The fourth line, "or as dream I cannot know it," pairs with the third, showing a mind unable to decide.
The last line, "for it is, and yet is not," places the reason at the end by inversion.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Yo no naka no uki mo tsuraki mo tsugenaku ni mazu shiru mono wa namida narikeri
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Yo no naka ni izura waga mi no arite nashi aware to ya iwamu ana u to ya iwamu