なよ竹の我が子のよをば知らずして
生ほし立てつと思ひけるかな
生ほし立てつと思ひけるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Nayotake no waga ko no yo o ba shirazu shite ōshitatetsu to omoikeru kana
- English Translation
-
Like the slender bamboo,
the joints of my child's short life
I never knew,
and all the while I thought
I had raised him to his prime.
- Meaning
- Not knowing my child's life would be as short as the joints of slender bamboo, I thought I had raised him to the full.
- Commentary
-
Book Twenty Lament Poems 1304
Headnote: "Composed after losing a child"
The poet says that, not knowing his child's life would be as short as the joint of a slender bamboo, he thought he had raised him to adulthood. The headnote shows it was composed after a child had died. Pivoting on "yo," a bamboo joint and a lifetime, he looks back on himself, who rested easy thinking he had raised his child, never knowing the child's life would be short like the short span between bamboo joints, and sings of a parent's grief.
The author, Taira no Kanemori, descended from Emperor Kōkō and was given the surname Taira on leaving the imperial family. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets and is known for his poem "shinoburedo" in the Hyakunin Isshu.
First line, "nayotake no," means "of slender bamboo," used as a pillow word leading to "yo," the bamboo joint.
Second line, "waga ko no yo o ba," is a pivot word: "yo" means the "joint" of bamboo and a "lifetime," meaning "my child's life."
Third line, "shirazu shite," means "not knowing," not knowing the life would be short.
Fourth line, "ōshitatetsu to," means "that I had raised him," with "tsu" a perfective auxiliary.
Final line, "omoikeru kana," means "I had thought," with "keru" the attributive form of the past auxiliary "keri" and "kana" exclamatory.
- Author
- Taira no Kanemori
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Omoiyaru Kogoi no mori no shizuku ni wa yoso naru hito no sode mo nurekeri
- Next Poem
-
Ware nomi ya kono yo wa uki to omoedomo kimi mo nageku to kiku zo kanashiki