世にふれば憂さこそまされみ吉野の
岩のかけ道踏みならしてむ
岩のかけ道踏みならしてむ
- Roma-ji
-
Yo ni fureba usa koso masare miyoshino no iwa no kakemichi fumi narashitemu
- English Translation
-
Living in the world,
its bitterness only grows;
fair Yoshino's
ladder paths across the rocks
I will tread till they are smooth.
- Meaning
- The longer I live in this world, the more its bitterness grows. I will go into the mountains, treading the cliffside paths of Yoshino until they are worn smooth.
- Commentary
-
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems II 951
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Because life only grows more painful, the poet resolves to tread the steep rock paths of Yoshino and go into the mountains. Where the previous poem wished for a lodge deep in Yoshino, this one sets out to force its own way along a hard path.
Together with 952 to 954 in this book, it forms a sequence of poems longing to live hidden in the mountains.
The author is recorded as anonymous, and the name has not come down to us.
The first line, "living in the world," uses fure, the perfective form of fu, "to pass time," to give an established condition. Poem 958 in this book opens with the same words.
The second line, "its bitterness only grows," closes the koso construction with the perfective form masare; the poem breaks here.
The third line, "fair Yoshino's," takes up the opening of the previous poem.
The fourth line, "ladder paths across the rocks," refers to steep paths built like shelves along cliff faces.
The last line, "I will tread till they are smooth," combines te (perfective) and mu (volition) to express firm resolve.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Miyoshino no yama no anata ni yado mogana yo no uki toki no kakurega ni semu
- Next Poem
-
Ikanaramu iwao no uchi ni sumaba ka wa yo no uki koto no kikoe kozaramu