Suzukayama ukiyo o yoso ni furisutete ika ni nariyuku waga mi naruran

鈴鹿山憂き世をよそにふり捨てて
いかになりゆく我が身なるらん

Roma-ji: Suzukayama ukiyo o yoso ni furisutete ika ni nariyuku waga mi naruran
English Translation: Suzuka Mountain:
this sad world as a thing apart
I have shaken off;
what will become of me now,
how will this self of mine fare?
Meaning: Crossing Suzuka Mountain, I have shaken off this weary world as something apart from me; what, I wonder, is to become of me now?
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 728

Headnote: "At Suzuka Mountain, when I had left the world and was going toward Ise"
Having taken vows, the poet composed this at Suzuka Mountain on his way toward Ise. He has shaken off the weary world and set out, but what is to become of him now? The release of having renounced the world is mixed with unease about a future he cannot see.
The poem was included among the miscellaneous poems of the Shinkokinshū and is known as one of Saigyō's representative works.

First line, “Suzukayama”: a mountain on the border of Ise and Ōmi, a hard pass on the road from the capital to Ise; its suzu, bell, calls up the related words furi and nari below.
Second line, “ukiyo o yoso ni”: the weary world treated as having nothing to do with me.
Third line, “furisutete”: furi is a pivot word joining shaking off and shaking a bell, related to the bell in Suzuka.
Fourth line, “ika ni nariyuku”: nari is a pivot word joining becoming and the ringing of a bell, also related to the bell.
Fifth line, “waga mi naruran”: ran is conjecture about the present; what will become of me, the poet wonders.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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