今さらに我は帰らじ滝見つつ
呼べど聞かずと問はば答へよ
呼べど聞かずと問はば答へよ
- Roma-ji
-
Imasara ni ware wa kaeraji taki mitsutsu yobedo kikazu to towaba kotae yo
- English Translation
-
Now, so late as this,
I shall never go back home—
gazing at the falls,
I hear no one who calls me—
say so, if they ask for me
- Meaning
- I shall not go back now, so late as this. If anyone asks for me, tell them I am gazing at the falls and cannot hear, however they call.
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems III 1238
Headnote: "When he first began his mountain austerities."
The poet says he will not go back now, and if anyone asks, they should be told that, gazing at the falls, he cannot hear when called. He entrusts his firm resolve, on first entering the mountains for religious practice, never to return to the world, to the roar of the falls that drowns out every call.
According to the headnote, it was composed when he first began walking the mountains in religious practice. Following the two preceding poems, it too speaks of a waterfall.
The poet, Henjō, is given in the text as "Archbishop Henjō." Named Yoshimine no Munesada in lay life, he was a grandson of Emperor Kanmu. He served Emperor Ninmyō and took the tonsure on the emperor's death, rising to the rank of Archbishop. He was one of the Six Poetic Immortals and the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
The first line, "Imasara ni," means "now, so late."
The second line, "ware wa kaeraji," means "I shall not go back," with "ji" negative intention. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "taki mitsutsu," means "gazing on and on at the falls," with "tsutsu" continuation.
The fourth line, "yobedo kikazu to," means "that he does not hear when called," the call drowned in the roar of the falls.
The last line, "towaba kotae yo," means "if they ask, answer so," with "ba" a supposition.
- Author
- Henjō
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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