身に積もる罪やいかなる罪ならむ
今日降る雪と共に消ななむ
今日降る雪と共に消ななむ
- Roma-ji
-
Mi ni tsumoru tsumi ya ika naru tsumi naramu kyō furu yuki to tomo ni kenanamu
- English Translation
-
The sins that pile
upon me—what manner of sins,
I wonder, are they?
Along with the falling snow
today, let them melt away.
- Meaning
- What manner of sins are these that have piled up upon me? I would have them melt away today along with the falling snow.
- Commentary
-
Winter Poems 391
Headnote: "Composed on the spirit of the Buddha Names Rite"
This poem was composed on the spirit of the Buddha Names Rite, a year-end ceremony at which the names of the buddhas are chanted in repentance for the year's sins. What manner of sins are these that have piled up upon me, the poet asks, and wishes them to melt away with the snow falling today. Laying the piling of snow over the piling of sins, he prays that as the snow melts, so may his sins.
The Ruijū text gives line 5 as tomo ni kenuramu. This edition follows the source text.
Line 1 is the sin that has piled up on oneself, overlapping with the snow that "piles up."
Line 2: ya is an interrogative binding particle concluded in line 3.
Line 3 concludes ya with the attributive of the conjectural mu, and the poem pauses here. Lines 2 and 3 repeat the word tsumi, "sin."
Line 4 is the snow falling today, on the day of the rite.
Line 5: namu is a final particle expressing a wish for something to happen, praying that the sins melt away with the snow.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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