classic waka stream

亡き跡を誰と知らねど鳥辺山
おのおのすごき塚の夕暮
Roma-ji

Naki ato o tare to shiranedo Toribeyama onoono sugoki tsuka no yūgure

English Translation
Whose remains they are
I cannot tell, and yet at
Toribeyama
each and every mound stands
desolate in the dusk.
Meaning
Though I know not whose remains they are, at Toribeyama every mound looks desolate in the dusk.
Commentary
Miscellaneous Poems 848

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "From among the many poems on impermanence that I composed"
Though I do not know whose they are, at Toribeyama every mound looks desolate in the dusk, the poet says, feeling the same sorrow of impermanence even at the graves of strangers.

First line, “naki ato o”: the remains of the dead, the graves.
Second line, “tare to shiranedo”: though I do not know whose.
Third line, “Toribeyama”: the burial ground in the Eastern Hills.
Fourth line, “onoono sugoki”: sugoshi is chillingly lonely; each one so.
Fifth line, “tsuka no yūgure”: ending on a noun, the graves at dusk.
Author
Saigyō
Source
Sankashu
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