Kuchihatsuru sode ni wa ikaga tsutsumamashi munashi to tokeru minori narazu wa - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

朽ち果つる袖にはいかが包ままし
むなしと説ける御法ならずは

Roma-ji: Kuchihatsuru sode ni wa ikaga tsutsumamashi munashi to tokeru minori narazu wa
English Translation: In sleeves rotted through,
how could I ever hope
to hold back my tears,
were it not for the Law
that teaches all is empty?
Meaning: How could I hold back my tears in sleeves rotted through with weeping, were it not for the Law that teaches all is empty?
Commentary: Book Nineteen Buddhist Poems 1233

Headnote: "Composed on the Ever-Weeping Bodhisattva of the Larger Prajñā Sutra"
This poem was composed on the Ever-Weeping Bodhisattva of the Larger Prajñā Sutra, who is said to have wept without ceasing in his search for the teaching of prajñā and even to have sold himself to obtain the Law. In sleeves rotted through with weeping, how could I hold back my tears, were it not for the Law that teaches emptiness? he says. He ties tears to the teaching of emptiness, saying that even the Ever-Weeping Bodhisattva's endless tears could be stilled only by meeting the prajñā teaching that all things are empty.
The author, "Jakuchō Hōshi," was named Fujiwara no Tametsune in lay life and was a son of Fujiwara no Tametada, governor of Tango. With his brothers Jakunen and Jakuzen he lived in retreat at Ōhara, and they were called the Three Jaku of Tokiwa or of Ōhara. He was the father of Fujiwara no Takanobu.
It uses in its fourth line the same phrase as "munashi to tokeru" in the second line of 1228 in this book, and both sing of the Prajñā Sutra's teaching of emptiness.

First line, "kuchihatsuru": "rotting through," sleeves rotting from being ever wet with tears. It shares its words with "kuchihatete" in the first line of 1243 in this book.
Second line, "sode ni wa ikaga": "ikaga" means "how," expressing a rhetorical question.
Third line, "tsutsumamashi": "mashi" is a counterfactual auxiliary that answers "zu wa" in the fifth line, "how could I hold them back, were it not for it?" The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "munashi to tokeru": "that teaches all is empty," the same phrase as "munashi to tokeru" in the second line of 1228 in this book.
Fifth line, "minori narazu wa": "zu wa" is a negative supposition, "were it not the Law." By inversion it gives the condition for the third line.
Author: Jakuchō
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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