亡き跡を誰と知らねど鳥辺山
おのおのすごき塚の夕暮
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
- Prev Poem
-
Ōnami ni hikare idetaru kokochi shite tasukebune naki oki ni yuraruru
- Next Poem
-
Nami takaki yo o kogikogite hito wa mina Funaokayama o tomari ni zo suru