Kokoro ni mo aranu ukiyo ni sumizome no koromo no sode no nurenu hi zo naki - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

心にもあらぬ憂き世にすみぞめの
衣の袖の濡れぬ日ぞなき

Roma-ji: Kokoro ni mo aranu ukiyo ni sumizome no koromo no sode no nurenu hi zo naki
English Translation: In this sorrowful world
so against my heart I dwell,
and in robes of ink
the sleeves of my garment
never know a dry day.
Meaning: I have come to live in this sorrowful world against my will, and there is not a day when the sleeves of my ink-dyed mourning robe are not wet with tears.
Commentary: Book Twenty Lament Poems 1290

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says that, having come to live in this sorrowful world against all expectation, there is no day when the sleeves of the ink-dyed robe are not wet. Pivoting on "sumizome," beginning to live and ink-dyed mourning, it sings of the pain of living on unwillingly in the world, now clad in mourning after losing someone dear, and of tears that never cease.

First line, "kokoro ni mo," means "to my own heart."
Second line, "aranu ukiyo ni," means "in a sorrowful world not as I wished," the world in which one has unwillingly survived.
Third line, "sumizome no," is a pivot word: "sumizome" means "beginning to live" in the world and the "ink-dyed" robe of mourning.
Fourth line, "koromo no sode no," means "the sleeves of my robe," the sleeves of the ink-dyed mourning robe.
Final line, "nurenu hi zo naki," means "there is no day they are not wet," with the binding particle "zo" resolved by "naki," the attributive form of the adjective "nashi."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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