Furusato o hitori wakaruru yūbe ni mo okuru wa tsuki no kage to koso kike - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

故郷をひとり別るる夕べにも
送るは月の影とこそ聞け

Roma-ji: Furusato o hitori wakaruru yūbe ni mo okuru wa tsuki no kage to koso kike
English Translation: Even on the evening
when alone I take my leave
of the home I know,
the one to see me on my way,
I hear, is the light of the moon
Meaning: Even on that evening when I part alone from the home I have known, I hear it is the moonlight that will see me on my way.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Buddhist Poems 1222

Headnote: "On the line of Samantabhadra's vow, only this king of vows will never leave, as a poem on the Buddhist teaching in a hundred-poem sequence"
This is a poem on the Buddhist teaching from a hundred-poem sequence, composed on the line of Samantabhadra's vow saying that only this king of vows will never forsake one. The chapter on Samantabhadra's practices and vows in the Flower Garland Sutra teaches that when a person's life ends, kin and treasure all fall away, but Samantabhadra's vow alone stays by one's side and leads one to paradise. Even on the evening I part alone from my home, I hear it is the moonlight that will see me off, she says, likening the journey of death to an evening parting and the vow that never leaves to the light of the moon.
The author, "Princess Shokushi," was a daughter of Emperor Go-Shirakawa who served as high priestess of the Kamo shrines. She later took the tonsure and studied poetry under Fujiwara no Shunzei.

First line, "furusato o": "furusato" is the place one has long lived in, here this world.
Second line, "hitori wakaruru": "parting all alone," the journey of death on which neither kin nor treasure can come along.
Third line, "yūbe ni mo": the evening stands for the close of life.
Fourth line, "okuru wa tsuki no": "okuru" means to see off and accompany, and the moon stands for Samantabhadra's vow. It takes up "never leave" in the headnote.
Fifth line, "kage to koso kike": "kage" is the light of the moon, and "koso," an emphatic binding particle, closes with the perfective form "kike," "so I hear," that is, so the sutra teaches.
Author: Princess Shokushi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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