涙川その水上を尋ぬれば
世の憂き目より出づるなりけり
世の憂き目より出づるなりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Namidagawa sono minakami o tazunureba yo no ukime yori izuru narikeri
- English Translation
-
The River of Tears —
when I go in search of where
its waters rise,
I find they flow from the hard
and bitter eyes of this world
- Meaning
- When I traced the River of Tears back to its source, I found it springs from the bitter trials of this world.
- Commentary
-
Book Ten Miscellaneous Poems II 368
Likening his flowing tears to a river, the poet traces it to its source and finds that it springs from the bitter trials of the world. The conceit lies in pressing the image of tears as a river and seeking its source in the sorrows of the world.
The next poem, 369, likens the heart to water, so poems comparing tears and the heart to flowing water stand side by side.
The first line, "namidagawa" (River of Tears), likens flowing tears to a river.
The second line, "sono minakami o," refers to the river's upper reaches, its source.
The third line, "tazunureba," is a conditional of certainty: when I trace it.
The fourth line, "yo no ukime yori," means from the bitter trials of the world; "me" (eye) also resonates as the place tears come from.
The final line, "izuru narikeri," combines the copula "nari" and exclamatory "keri": that is where it flows from.
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Ōhara ya mada sumigama mo narawaneba waga yado nomi zo keburi taetaru
- Next Poem
-
Omoiyare kokoro no mizu no asakereba kakinagasu beki koto no ha mo nashi