死出の山たどるたどるも越えななで
憂き世の中に何帰りけん
憂き世の中に何帰りけん
- Roma-ji
-
Shide no yama tadoru tadoru mo koenanade ukiyo no naka ni nani kaeriken
- English Translation
-
The mountain of death—
groping, groping all the way,
yet not crossing it,
back to this world of sorrow
why ever did you return
- Meaning
- Groping your way up the mountain of death but never crossing it, why ever did you come back to this sorrowful world?
- Commentary
-
Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems II 1166
Headnote: "On hearing that someone who had been ill had at last recovered."
The poet asks why, groping along the mountain of death but never crossing it, one should have come back to this sorrowful world. Speaking of recovery from grave illness as turning back on the road to the other world, the poem expresses mixed feelings about returning to this weary life.
According to the headnote, it was composed on hearing that someone who had been ill had at last recovered. It can be read as addressed to the one who recovered or as spoken in that person's voice.
The poet is listed as anonymous, and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Shide no yama," is the mountain the dead cross on their way to the other world.
The second line, "tadoru tadoru mo," means "groping, groping as you went," repeating the same words as "tadoru tadoru zo" in the fourth line of 1144 in this book.
The third line, "koenanade," means "without crossing over," referring to turning back without passing the line between life and death.
The fourth line, "ukiyo no naka ni," means "to this sorrowful world." The second line of 1125, the opening poem of the book, also has "ukiyo no naka."
The last line, "nani kaeriken," means "why did you return," with "ken" conjecture about a past cause.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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