足柄の関の山路を行く人は
知るも知らぬも疎からぬかな
知るも知らぬも疎からぬかな
- Roma-ji
-
Ashigara no seki no yamaji o yuku hito wa shiru mo shiranu mo utokaranu kana
- English Translation
-
Those who go along
the mountain road to the barrier
of Ashigara—
known to me or not known,
none of them seems a stranger
- Meaning
- All those who travel the mountain road through the Ashigara barrier, whether I know them or not, seem to me like friends.
- Commentary
-
Book Nineteen Parting Poems 1361
Headnote: "On the way to visit someone in the East, at the Ashigara Barrier in Sagami, meeting a woman going up to the capital."
The poet says that of those who travel the mountain road through the Ashigara Barrier, known or unknown, none seems a stranger. Going east, he meets on the steep barrier road a woman going up to the capital, and sings that amid the loneliness of travel, everyone one passes, friend or stranger, feels close.
According to the headnote, on his way to someone in the East, he met at the Ashigara Barrier in Sagami a woman going up to the capital, and composed this.
The poet, Priest Shinjō, seems to have been a monk of the early Heian period, though little is known of his life.
The first line, "Ashigara no," means "of Ashigara" in Sagami.
The second line, "seki no yamaji o," means "the mountain road through the barrier," the Ashigara Barrier on the border of Sagami and Suruga.
The third line, "yuku hito wa," means "those who pass along it."
The fourth line, "shiru mo shiranu mo," means "known and unknown alike."
The last line, "utokaranu kana," means "none seem strangers," with "kana" exclamatory.
- Author
- The Monk Shinsei
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Hana sakite mi naranu mono wa watatsuumi no kazashi ni saseru okitsu shiranami
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Hito goto ni kyō kyō to nomi koiraruru miyako chikaku mo narinikeru kana