Ware ikuso mishi yo no koto o omoiidetsu akuru hodo naki yoru no nezame ni

われ幾そ見し世の事を思ひ出でつ
明くるほどなき夜の寝覚めに

Roma-ji: Ware ikuso mishi yo no koto o omoiidetsu akuru hodo naki yoru no nezame ni
English Translation: How much I have seen
of the world, and all of it
came back to my mind
in the night when I awoke
with no long wait for the dawn.
Meaning: How many things of the world I have seen came back to me, waking in the night when dawn was not long off.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 679

Headnote: "At a place called Tsuchiya in Sagami there was a decrepit monk past ninety who came to me of his own accord; while telling tales of old, he wept as he told me he could no longer stand or sit, and then left. At that time I had my people compose on the theme of old age, and I too composed"
A monk past ninety from Tsuchiya in Sagami came by and, telling of the old days, wept that he could no longer rise or sit, then left. Sanetomo had his people compose on "old age" and composed himself. Young as he was, he takes on the old monk's voice: waking in the short night before dawn, he recalls the many things of the world he has seen.
The text transmitted by Teika spells line 3 slightly differently. The Ruijū text ends the headnote with "composed poem." Kamo no Mabuchi remarked that writing "Sōshū" for a province is not the custom of this country; it should be "Sagami province."

Line 1 means "I, how many," opening a series of five in the old monk's voice.
Line 2 means "the things of the world I have seen."
Line 3 means "I have recalled," tsu perfective, with a break after the line.
Line 4 means "with little time till dawn," the shallow sleep of the old who wake again and again.
Line 5 means "on waking in the night," in inversion.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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