Ukiyo ni wa yuki kakurenade kakikumori furu wa omoi no hoka ni mo aru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

憂き世にはゆき隠れなでかき曇り
ふるは思ひのほかにもあるかな

Roma-ji: Ukiyo ni wa yuki kakurenade kakikumori furu wa omoi no hoka ni mo aru kana
English Translation: In this world of sorrow,
unable to go and hide,
the sky clouds over,
and that I still live on, like falling snow,
is more than I had ever thought.
Meaning: Unable to go off and hide from this sorrowful world, I live on beneath a clouded sky, as the snow falls—how far this is from anything I had imagined.
Commentary: Book Eight Miscellaneous Poems I 504

Headnote: "In a year when I should have been raised in rank but was not, on seeing the snow fall"
The poet says that living on beneath clouded skies, unable to slip away from this sorrowful world, is beyond anything he had imagined. The headnote shows he composed it on seeing snow fall in a year when he should have been raised in rank but was not. Joining "yuki" with snow and going, and "furu" with falling and passing the years, he overlays on the falling snow the grief of a self who remains in the world without advancement. Following the frost of the preceding poem, 503, it sings of snow, and laments over misfortune in official life continue.
The author, written as Motosuke, is Kiyohara no Motosuke. A grandson of Kiyohara no Fukayabu, he was one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber who compiled the Gosenshū and worked on reading the Man'yōshū. The father of Sei Shōnagon, he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "ukiyo ni wa," means "in this sorrowful world." It is the same as the first line of 481 in this book, sharing the lament of being unable to leave the world.
Second line, "yuki kakurenade," means "unable to go and hide." "Yuki" is a pivot word joining snow and going, and "nade" expresses negation.
Third line, "kakikumori," means "the sky clouding over," overlaying the snowy sky with a heart that does not clear.
Fourth line, "furu wa omoi no," means "that I live on is beyond my thought." "Furu" is a pivot word joining snow falling and the passing of years.
Final line, "hoka ni mo aru kana," means "is beyond, alas," with "kana" an exclamatory particle. Read with the fourth line, it expresses that this was unexpected.
Author: Kiyohara no Motosuke
Source: Shui Wakashu
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