旅の世にまた旅寝して草枕
夢のうちにも夢を見るかな
夢のうちにも夢を見るかな
- Roma-ji
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Tabi no yo ni mata tabine shite kusamakura yume no uchi ni mo yume o miru kana
- English Translation
-
In this world, a journey,
I journey yet again and sleep
on a pillow of grass,
and even within a dream
I find myself dreaming a dream
- Meaning
- In this world that is itself a journey, I travel once more and sleep on a pillow of grass, and within the dream of this life I dream yet another dream.
- Commentary
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Book Eight Travel Poems 533
Headnote: "Composed as a travel poem"
Composed on the topic of travel. In this world, which is itself a journey, I travel once more and sleep on a pillow of grass, dreaming a dream within a dream, the poet says. From the Buddhist view of life as a journey and the world as a dream, he builds a doubled structure, a journey within a journey and a dream within a dream, to express the frailty of an impermanent world.
The author, "Hōin Jien," was the son of Regent Fujiwara no Tadamichi and the younger brother of Kujō Kanezane. He served four times as Tendai Abbot and wrote the history Gukanshō. Hōin is the highest rank for a monk. He has a poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
First line, "tabi no yo ni": seeing this world itself as a journey, "in this world that is a journey." It shares the view of "izuko mo tabi no kokochi koso sure" in 517 of this book.
Second line, "mata tabine shite": "sleeping once more on the road," traveling again within a world that is already a journey.
Third line, "kusamakura": sleep on the road, doubling the "tabine" of the second line.
Fourth line, "yume no uchi ni mo": "even within this dreamlike world."
Fifth line, "yume o miru kana": the exclamatory "kana." The journey and sleep on the road of the first two lines and the dream and dream of the last two form pairs in a doubled structure. The next poem, 534, also sings of dreams on the road.
- Author
- Jien
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Yoshi saraba iso no tomaya ni tabine sen nami kakezu tote nurenu sode ka wa
- Next Poem
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Kusamakura karine no yume ni ikutabi ka nareshi miyako ni yukikaeru ran