墨染の濃きも薄きも見る時は
重ねてものぞ悲しかりける
重ねてものぞ悲しかりける
- Roma-ji
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Sumizome no koki mo usuki mo miru toki wa kasanete mono zo kanashikarikeru
- English Translation
-
When I look upon
the ink-dyed robes of mourning,
the dark and the pale,
layer upon layer, all things
seem to me so filled with sorrow
- Meaning
- Whenever I look upon the ink-black mourning robes, both the dark and the pale, sorrow comes over me layer upon layer.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Congratulatory Poems 1404
Headnote: "While in mourning for the Cloistered Emperor, written on a scrap of gray cloth and sent to someone."
The poet says that seeing the ink-dyed robes, dark and pale alike, makes all things doubly sad. In mourning for Cloistered Emperor Uda, she sees the shades of the mourning clothes around her and, knowing that all are grieving for him, feels her sorrow deepen layer upon layer.
According to the headnote, while in mourning for the Cloistered Emperor Uda, she wrote this on a scrap of gray cloth and sent it to someone.
The poet, "the Kyōgoku Consort," is Fujiwara no Hōshi. A daughter of Fujiwara no Tokihira, she received the love of Cloistered Emperor Uda and was called the Kyōgoku Consort.
The first line, "Sumizome no," means "of the ink-dyed mourning robes."
The second line, "koki mo usuki mo," means "both the dark and the pale," the depth of the color varying with one's closeness to the deceased.
The third line, "miru toki wa," means "when I see them."
The fourth line, "kasanete mono zo," means "again and again, all things," with "layer" an associated word with robes; "zo" is an emphatic binding particle.
The last line, "kanashikarikeru," means "seem sad," closing the "zo" with the attributive "keru." Poem 1399 of this book also ends its lower verse with "mono zo kanashikarikeru."
- Author
- Fujiwara no Hōshi
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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