Hatsuseyama iriai no kane o kiku tabi ni mukashi no tōku naru zo kanashiki - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

初瀬山入相の鐘を聞くたびに
昔の遠くなるぞ悲しき

Roma-ji: Hatsuseyama iriai no kane o kiku tabi ni mukashi no tōku naru zo kanashiki
English Translation: On Hatsuse's hill,
each time that I hear the bell
toll at day's end,
how sad it is the days of old
are growing farther away
Meaning: Each time I hear the evening bell of Hatsuse Mountain, how sad it is that the days of old grow ever more distant.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1154

Headnote: "Composed on the theme of remembering the past at a mountain temple, after the lay monk Shigeie, Senior Assistant Governor-General of Dazaifu, had passed away"
After his father, Fujiwara no Shigeie, Senior Assistant Governor-General of Dazaifu, had died as a lay monk, he composed this poem on the theme "remembering the past at a mountain temple." Each time I hear the evening bell of Hatsuse, how sad that the past grows distant, he says. The bell of the Hatsuse temple, ringing each evening, marks the end of a day. Each time he hears it another day has passed, and the days when his father lived recede a little further, and he entrusts to the sound of the bell his sorrow at a past that fades with each passing day.
The author, "Fujiwara no Arie Ason," was a son of Fujiwara no Shigeie, Senior Assistant Governor-General of Dazaifu. He later became one of the compilers of the Shin Kokin Wakashū.
It shares "mukashi" with the preceding poem, 1153. And where 1149 of this book listens to the bell at dawn, this poem listens to the evening bell at dusk, so the bells of morning and evening form a pair.

First line, "Hatsuseyama": a famous place in Yamato Province, the mountain where Hasedera stands.
Second line, "iriai no kane o": "the bell rung at temples at dusk." It shares the bell with "kane no oto o" in the third line of 1149 of this book, the bells of dawn and dusk forming a pair.
Third line, "kiku tabi ni": "each time I hear it."
Fourth line, "mukashi no tōku": "the days when my father lived, far off." It shares "mukashi" with "mukashi nariseba" in the fifth line of the preceding poem, 1153.
Fifth line, "naru zo kanashiki": "zo" is an emphatic binding particle closing with the attributive "kanashiki."
Author: Fujiwara no Ariie
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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