Yo no naka no uki wa ima koso ureshikere omoishirazu wa itowamashi ya wa - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

世の中の憂きは今こそ嬉しけれ
思ひ知らずは厭はましやは

Roma-ji: Yo no naka no uki wa ima koso ureshikere omoishirazu wa itowamashi ya wa
English Translation: The sorrows of the world
now at last are, of all things,
a cause for gladness;
had I not come to know them,
would I ever have spurned it?
Meaning: The sorrows of the world are now, of all things, a joy to me. Had I not come to know them, would I ever have turned away from the world?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1146

Headnote: "Composed as a poem expressing my grievances for the Kamo Shrine poetry contest"
This poem was composed as a poem of grievance for a contest at the Kamo Shrine. The sorrows of the world are now a joy; had I not known them, would I have spurned the world, he says. It is precisely because he came to know the world's pain in his bones that a heart to spurn it and seek the Buddhist path was born. Seen that way, the pain itself now seems a blessing, and he reframes the suffering of the sorrowful world positively as the occasion for leaving it.
The author, "the monk Jakuren," was a son of Fujiwara no Shunkai, and his lay name was Sadanaga. He was adopted by his uncle Fujiwara no Shunzei but later took the tonsure.
Like 1076 of this book, it is a poem of grievance composed for the Kamo Shrine contest. It also shares "omoishiru," to come to know, with "omoishiriken" in the fifth line of 1114 of this book. Where 1114 regrets having come to know the world's pain, this poem rejoices that knowing it made spurning the world possible, so the two stand in contrast.

First line, "yo no naka no": "of the world."
Second line, "uki wa ima koso": "koso" is an emphatic binding particle closing with "kere" in the third line.
Third line, "ureshikere": the realis of the adjective "ureshi," closing the binding. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "omoishirazu wa": "zu wa" is a negative supposition, "had I not come to know them." It shares "omoishiru" with "omoishiriken" in the fifth line of 1114 of this book.
Fifth line, "itowamashi ya wa": "mashi" is the counterfactual auxiliary and "ya wa" rhetorical, "would I have spurned the world? I would not."
Author: Jakuren
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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