Ukiyo ni wa kado saseri to mo mienaku ni nado ka waga mi no idegate ni suru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

憂き世には門させりとも見えなくに
などか我が身の出でがてにする

Roma-ji: Ukiyo ni wa kado saseri to mo mienaku ni nado ka waga mi no idegate ni suru
English Translation: In this world of sorrow
there seems to be no gate
that has been shut fast,
so why is it that I find
it so hard to make my way out?
Meaning: In this sorrowful world there seems to be no gate closed against me, so why is it so hard for me to leave it?
Commentary: Book Eight Miscellaneous Poems I 481

Headnote: "Sent to my younger sister, a consort, when I had been stripped of my post"
The poet asks why he finds it so hard to leave this sorrowful world, when no gate seems to be shut against him. The headnote shows he sent it to his younger sister, a consort, when he had been stripped of his post. In the image of being unable to leave a house with no closed gate, he laments a heart that, though wishing to abandon the world in the misery of losing his post, still cannot part from it. Following Michizane's laments of exile in the two preceding poems, it sings of a self whose official career has been cut off.
The author, Taira no Sadafun, was a son of Taira no Yoshikaze and a mid-Heian poet called Heichū. He was known as a great lover and is held to be the hero of the Tale of Heichū. He is counted among the Later Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "ukiyo ni wa," means "in this sorrowful world." "Ukiyo" also appears in 504 and 505 of this book.
Second line, "kado saseri to mo," means "that the gate is shut," with "sase" from "sasu," to shut a gate.
Third line, "mienaku ni," means "though it does not seem," with "naku ni" adding a concessive sense to the negative.
Fourth line, "nado ka waga mi no," means "why is it that I," with "ka" a questioning particle.
Final line, "idegate ni suru," means "find it hard to go out," resolving "ka" with the attributive "suru." It carries the thought of leaving the world, that is, taking the tonsure.
Author: Taira no Sadafun
Source: Shui Wakashu
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