見るままに涙ぞ落つる限りなき
命に代はる姿と思へば
命に代はる姿と思へば
- Roma-ji
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Miru mama ni namida zo otsuru kagiri naki inochi ni kawaru sugata to omoeba
- English Translation
-
Even as I look,
how my tears come falling down,
for this, I think,
is the form that took the place
of a life beyond all price
- Meaning
- The moment I see it, my tears begin to fall, for I think of it as the very form that took the place of a life beyond all price.
- Commentary
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Book Nineteen Buddhist Poems 1212
Headnote: "On seeing the Kannon of Anau"
He composed this on worshipping the Kannon of Anau. The moment I see it my tears fall, for I think of it as the form that took the place of a life beyond price, he says. Anau is understood as Anao in Tanba, whose temple's Kannon is known from the tale of the substitute Kannon that took an arrow in place of a devout man. Worshipping that image, he weeps at the depth of mercy that would take the place of a human life.
The author, "Former Archbishop Kakuchū," was a son of the Regent Fujiwara no Tadamichi who, as a Tendai monk, rose to archbishop. He is also known for making the pilgrimage to the thirty-three Kannon temples.
Following the preceding poem, 1211, this too was composed on the Kannon pilgrimage.
First line, "miru mama ni": "the moment I look," "even as I look."
Second line, "namida zo otsuru": "zo," an emphatic binding particle, closes with the attributive "otsuru." The poem pauses here.
Third line, "kagiri naki": "beyond all measure," modifying "inochi," life, in the fourth line.
Fourth line, "inochi ni kawaru": "taking the place of a human life," drawing on the tale of the substitute Kannon.
Fifth line, "sugata to omoeba": the form is the Kannon image, and "ba" marks an established condition. By inversion it gives the reason for the tears of the second line.
- Author
- Kakuchū
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Yo o terasu hotoke no shirushi arikereba mada tomoshibi mo kienu narikeri
- Next Poem
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Chitose made musubishi mizu mo tsuyu bakari waga mi no tame to omoi ya wa seshi