Itsu no yo ni nagaki nemuri no yume samete odoroku koto no aran to suran

いつの世に長き眠りの夢覚めて
驚くことのあらんとすらん

Roma-ji: Itsu no yo ni nagaki nemuri no yume samete odoroku koto no aran to suran
English Translation: In what age to come
from the dream of this long sleep
will I wake at last,
and will there ever be a time
when I come to my senses?
Meaning: In what age, I wonder, will I ever wake from the dream of this long sleep and come at last to my senses?
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 758

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown"
Likening the world of delusion, with its endless round of birth and death, to a dream in a long sleep, the poet asks when he will ever wake from it and attain enlightenment. The poem laments how far away enlightenment lies.

First line, “itsu no yo ni”: in what age, suggesting the long span of rebirth after rebirth.
Second line, “nagaki nemuri no”: the long sleep, a figure for delusion through birth and death, after the Buddhist idea of the long night.
Third line, “yume samete”: waking from that dream.
Fourth line, “odoroku koto no”: odoroku is to wake, to come to one's senses, here enlightenment.
Fifth line, “aran to suran”: will there be, ran being conjecture about the present.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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