もろともに山めぐりする時雨かな
ふるにかひなき身とは知らずや
ふるにかひなき身とは知らずや
- Roma-ji
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Morotomo ni yamameguri suru shigure kana furu ni kai naki mi to wa shirazu ya
- English Translation
-
Side by side with me
making the round of the hills,
these winter showers—
do they not know this is a life
not worth the falling, not worth living?
- Meaning
- These winter showers go round the hills along with me. Do they not know that mine is a life in which there is no use in falling, no worth in living on?
- Commentary
-
Book Four Winter Poems 149
Headnote: "Composed when showers fell as I was making pilgrimage to a hundred temples in the Eastern Hills."
While making a pilgrimage to the many temples of the Eastern Hills, the poet was caught in winter showers and likened the showers moving from hill to hill to a fellow pilgrim. In the lower lines “furu” and “kai” carry double meanings, and he mocks to the showers his own life, which he feels has no worth.
The Eastern Hills rise east of the Kamo River in the capital and were dotted with temples. Michimasa fell into misfortune early in life, and his bitter mood seeps through.
First line, “morotomo ni”: “together,” the poet and the showers traveling side by side.
Second line, “yamameguri suru”: the showers moving from hill to hill overlap with the poet’s round of the temples.
Third line, “shigure kana”: “kana” is exclamatory and the poem breaks here. It is one of the shower poems that run from 143 onward.
Fourth line, “furu ni kai naki”: “furu” means both “to fall” and “to live on,” and “kai” both “worth” and “ravine,” the latter an associated word for the hills.
Fifth line, “mi to wa shirazu ya”: “ya” is interrogative; asking the showers whether they do not know his plight, he pours out his grief.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Michimasa
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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