相坂の嵐の風は寒けれど
行方知らねばわびつつぞ寝る
行方知らねばわびつつぞ寝る
- Roma-ji
-
Ōsaka no arashi no kaze wa samukeredo yukue shiraneba wabitsutsu zo nuru
- English Translation
-
At Ōsaka Pass
the wind of the mountain storm
blows cold, and yet,
not knowing where I should go,
in misery here I sleep.
- Meaning
- The storm wind at Ōsaka Pass is cold, but since I do not know where to go, I lie down to sleep here in misery.
- Commentary
-
Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems II 988
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Near the barrier of Ōsaka, buffeted by a cold mountain wind, the traveler has nowhere to go and sleeps there in misery. The poem conveys the loneliness of a journey with no settled destination.
As if taking up "wherever I go and stop, there I make my lodging" from the previous poem, 987, it sings of a traveler sleeping wherever he ends up. It shares the word "where to go" with the next poem, 989.
The author is recorded as anonymous, and the name has not come down to us.
The first line, "at Ōsaka Pass," refers to Mount Ōsaka on the border of Ōmi and Yamashiro; the text writes the name as 相坂.
The second line, "the wind of the mountain storm," refers to fierce winds blowing down from the mountains.
The third line, "blows cold, and yet," is concessive.
The fourth line, "not knowing where I should go," echoes the fourth line of the next poem, "not knowing where."
The last line, "in misery here I sleep," uses zo with the attributive nuru.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Yo no naka wa izure ka sashite waga naramu yuki tomaru o zo yado to sadamuru
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Kaze no ue ni arika sadamenu chiri no mi wa yukue mo shirazu narinu beranari