Nobe mireba mukashi no ato ya tare naramu sono yo mo shiranu koke no shita kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

野辺見れば昔の跡や誰ならむ
その世も知らぬ苔の下かな

Roma-ji: Nobe mireba mukashi no ato ya tare naramu sono yo mo shiranu koke no shita kana
English Translation: When I view the moor,
these traces of long ago,
whose could they be?
not even their age is known
beneath the covering moss
Meaning: When I look across the moor, I wonder whose these old graves are. Beneath their moss, not even the age in which they lived is known.
Commentary: Book Nine Poems of Lament 595

Headnote: "Composed when I went to my parent's grave and saw many graves of people unknown to me"
Composed when the poet visited his parent's grave and saw many graves of people he did not know. When I look over the moor, whose are these traces of old, he asks; beneath the moss, not even their age is known. Seeing the old mounds around his parent's grave, their names and times forgotten, he expresses the sense of impermanence that one day his parent's grave too will be forgotten like them.
The author, "Master of the Left Capital Nagonori," was the son of Junior Counselor Fujiwara no Michinori, that is, Shinzei, and his mother was the Kii Second-Rank Lady, Fujiwara no Chōshi. He served as Master of the Left Capital among other posts.
Poem 591 of this book is by Fujiwara no Shigenori, whose mother was also the Kii Second-Rank Lady, thinking of his mother moldering alone beneath the moss; this poem also closes with "koke no shita," both thinking of the dead who sleep beneath their graves.

First line, "nobe mireba": "nobe" is open fields, here the moor where the graves are spread.
Second line, "mukashi no ato ya": "ato" means the graves left by people of old. The interrogative "ya" closes with the attributive "ramu" in the third line.
Third line, "tare naramu": "whose could they be?" The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "sono yo mo shiranu": "not knowing even the age in which they lived."
Fifth line, "koke no shita kana": "beneath the moss" means beneath the grave, and "kana" is exclamatory. It uses the same words as "koke no shita ni kuchinan" in 591 of this book.
Author: Fujiwara no Nagonori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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