おぼつかなまだ見ぬ道を死出の山
雪踏み分けて越えむとすらむ
雪踏み分けて越えむとすらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Obotsukana mada minu michi o shide no yama yuki fumiwakete koemu to suramu
- English Translation
-
How uncertain it is —
along a road I've never seen,
the Mountain of Death,
treading a path through the snow,
shall I make my way across
- Meaning
- How uncertain it is! Shall I cross the Mountain of Death on a road I have never seen, treading my way through the snow?
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Miscellaneous Poems II 361
Imagining the Mountain of Death, crossed after dying, as a snowy mountain road never seen before, the poet sings of the loneliness of treading his way across it. The concrete scene of crossing a mountain in snow conveys the anxiety of the journey of death.
Like poems 358 and 359, it ends with "to suramu." Poem 318 of Book Nine sang of treading through the snow to visit a lover; here the same line is used for crossing the Mountain of Death.
The first line, "obotsukana," is the stem of "obotsukanashi," lamenting the uncertainty, with a break after the first line. Poem 352 of this book uses the same word.
The second line, "mada minu michi o," refers to a road never yet seen.
The third line, "shide no yama," names the mountain the dead must cross on the way to the underworld.
The fourth line, "yuki fumiwakete," refers to treading a way through deep snow; the same line appears in poem 318 of Book Nine.
The final line, "koemu to suramu," combines the conjectural "mu" and "ramu": shall I cross it?
- Author
- Ryōzen
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Kono yo dani tsuki matsu hodo wa kurushiki ni aware ikanaru yami ni madowamu
- Next Poem
-
Kawaramu to inoru inochi wa oshikarade satemo wakaremu koto zo kanashiki