炎のみ虚空に満てる阿鼻地獄
行方もなしと言ふもはかなし
行方もなしと言ふもはかなし
- Roma-ji
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Honoo nomi kokū ni miteru Abi jigoku yukue mo nashi to iu mo hakanashi
- English Translation
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Only fire and flame
filling the empty sky—
the Avīci hell;
they say there is no way out,
and saying so is vain.
- Meaning
- In the Avīci hell, where nothing but flames fill the empty sky, they say there is no way of escape; how futile even to speak of it.
- Commentary
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Miscellaneous Poems 649
Headnote: "A poem on reflecting upon sinful deeds"
On the theme of reflecting upon one's sins, the poet says that in the Avīci hell, where flames alone fill the sky, there is said to be no escape; hearing it, he thinks of his own sins and finds it all vain and empty.
The Jōkyō text, the Ruijū text and the text transmitted by Teika all read line 1 as honoo nomi, which Kamo no Mabuchi changed to honobono to; here the reading of these texts is kept. Line 2 reads "empty words" in the source as displayed but is read kokū, "empty sky."
Line 1 means "only flames."
Line 2 means "filling the empty sky."
Line 3 names the Avīci hell, the worst of the eight great hells, closing the phrase on a noun.
Line 4 means "there is no way out," taking up repentance in the preceding poem and the hell that awaits without it.
Line 5 means "even saying so is vain."
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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Tō o kumi dō o tsukuru mo hito nageki sange ni masaru kudoku ya wa aru
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Yo no naka wa kagami ni utsuru kage ni are ya aru ni mo arazu naki ni mo arazu