道変はる御幸悲しき今宵かな
限りの旅と見るにつけても
限りの旅と見るにつけても
- Roma-ji
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Michi kawaru miyuki kanashiki koyoi kana kagiri no tabi to miru ni tsukete mo
- English Translation
-
On a changed road now,
this procession, how sad it is,
here on this night,
seeing that this is the last
of all his journeys to be made.
- Meaning
- How sad tonight, this procession on a road unlike any other, as I watch it knowing it is his very last journey.
- Commentary
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Miscellaneous Poems 783
Headnote: "When he was being carried to the place where he was to be laid to rest"
Following the preceding poem, this was composed as the body of Retired Emperor Toba was carried to the place where it would be laid. How sad tonight's procession, on a road unlike those of his journeys in life, as I watch knowing it is his last journey, the poet says, setting the bright processions of his life against this funeral procession.
First line, “michi kawaru”: on a changed road, the road from this world to the next.
Second line, “miyuki kanashiki”: miyuki is a retired emperor's procession, here his funeral.
Third line, “koyoi kana”: kana is exclamatory, taking up 'koyoi koso' in the preceding poem; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “kagiri no tabi to”: the final journey, his funeral.
Fifth line, “miru ni tsukete mo”: as I watch it, inverted to follow the first three lines.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
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Towaba ya to omoiyorade zo nagekamashi mukashi nagara no waga mi nariseba