Yo o sutete yama ni iru hito yama nite mo nao uki toki wa izuchi yukuramu - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

世を捨てて山に入る人山にても
なほ憂き時はいづち行くらむ

Roma-ji: Yo o sutete yama ni iru hito yama nite mo nao uki toki wa izuchi yukuramu
English Translation: You who left the world
and went into the mountains:
if even there
things should still grow hard to bear,
where is it that you will go?
Meaning: You who have given up the world and entered the mountains: when things become painful even there, where will you go?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems II 956

Headnote: "Sent to a monk of the mountain"
Sent to a monk living in the mountains, this poem asks, with a light touch of humor, where one who has left the world for the mountains could go if life became painful even there, suggesting that there is no escape from the world's sorrows.
Whereas the preceding sequence longed to hide in the mountains, this poem counters that sorrow remains even after entering them, and is placed to turn the sequence in a new direction.
The author, "Ōshikōchi Mitsune" as written partly in kana, is Ōshikōchi no Mitsune, one of the compilers of the Kokin Wakashū, who held posts such as Junior Clerk of Kai and Senior Secretary of Izumi. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

The first line, "you who left the world," means to renounce secular life and become a monk.
The second line, "and went into the mountains," refers to one who practices religion in the mountains.
The third line, "if even there," repeats "mountains" from the second line to lead into the question.
The fourth line, "things should still grow hard to bear," gives the condition.
The last line, "where is it that you will go?", uses izuchi, a word asking direction, and ramu, conjecture about the present.
Author: Oshikochi no Mitsune
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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