Somukaba ya makoto no michi wa shirazu tomo ukiyo o itou shirushi bakari ni - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

背かばや真の道は知らずとも
憂き世を厭ふしるしばかりに

Roma-ji: Somukaba ya makoto no michi wa shirazu tomo ukiyo o itou shirushi bakari ni
English Translation: I long to turn away
from the world, though I may not
know the one true path,
if only as a token
that I spurn this world of sorrow
Meaning: I long to turn my back on the world. Though I may not know the true path, let it be at least a sign that I have wearied of this sorrowful world.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1111

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed as a poem expressing my grievances"
This poem was composed as a poem of grievance. I long to turn from the world, though I may not know the true path, if only as a sign that I spurn the sorrowful world, he says. He does not claim deep understanding of Buddhist enlightenment, yet he wishes to take the tonsure at least as proof of a heart weary of this painful world, frankly expressing not so much a pure search for the way as the urgency of his weariness with the world.
The author, "Middle Captain of the Right Inner Guards Tadayoshi," is Fujiwara no Tadayoshi. A son of the regent Fujiwara no Motozane, he later rose to major counselor.
Where the preceding poem, 1110, sings of one who stays in the world in sorrow as the years pass, this one wishes to turn away from it, so the heart that remains and the heart that would leave stand side by side. It also shares "shirushi," sign, with "shirushi naruran" in the fifth line of 1065 of this book.

First line, "somukaba ya": "somuku" means to turn from the world and take the tonsure, and "baya" is a final particle of one's own wish, "I long to leave the world." The poem pauses here.
Second line, "makoto no michi wa": "the true path" taught by the Buddha.
Third line, "shirazu tomo": "even if I do not know it."
Fourth line, "ukiyo o itou": "spurning the sorrowful world."
Fifth line, "shirushi bakari ni": "shirushi" means a sign or proof, "if only as a token." Through inversion it returns to the first line. It shares "shirushi" with "shirushi naruran" in the fifth line of 1065 of this book.
Author: Fujiwara no Tadayoshi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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