Takigi tsuki kemuri mo sumite sariniken kore ya nagori to miru zo kanashiki - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

薪尽き煙も澄みて去りにけん
これや名残と見るぞ悲しき

Roma-ji: Takigi tsuki kemuri mo sumite sariniken kore ya nagori to miru zo kanashiki
English Translation: The firewood spent,
the smoke too has cleared away,
and he must be gone;
is this what remains, I think,
and how sad it is to see
Meaning: The firewood spent and the smoke cleared from the sky, the Buddha must have departed this world. How sad it is to look upon these relics and think, is this all that remains?
Commentary: Book Nineteen Buddhist Poems 1209

Headnote: "Composed on visiting Tennōji and worshipping the relics of the Buddha"
He composed this on visiting Shitennōji and worshipping the Buddha's relics. The firewood spent and the smoke cleared, he must have departed; how sad to look on these and think they are what remains, he says. In the Introduction chapter of the Lotus Sutra the Buddha's passing is likened to a fire going out when its firewood is used up. The smoke of the Buddha's cremation has long vanished and he has left this world, and as the poet worships the relics left behind, he grieves that he was not born in time to meet the Buddha.
The author, "Senzai Shōnin," was a Tendai monk of the late Heian period who lived at Ungoji in the Higashiyama hills of Kyoto and is known for erecting a great statue of Amida there.
1254 in this book was likewise composed on worshipping the relics at Tennōji, and both sing of the smoke of cremation and the relics. Where this poem finds it sad to look on what remains, that one finds it a joy to see what has not vanished, the two forming a pair of sorrow and joy.

First line, "takigi tsuki": "the firewood burned out," drawing on the scripture that likens the Buddha's passing to a fire dying when its firewood is spent.
Second line, "kemuri mo sumite": "the smoke of cremation gone and the sky clear." It answers "kemuri nite" in the third line of 1254 in this book.
Third line, "sariniken": "ni" is perfective and "ken" the conjectural past, "he must have departed." The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "kore ya nagori to": "kore" points to the relics, and "ya," an interrogative binding particle, gives "is this what remains?"
Fifth line, "miru zo kanashiki": "zo," an emphatic binding particle, closes with "kanashiki," the attributive of the adjective. It has the same form as "miru zo ureshiki" in the fifth line of 1254 in this book, sadness set against joy.
Author: Senzai
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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