Mono iwanu yomo no kedamono sura dani mo aware naru kana ya oya no ko o omou

物言はぬ四方の獣すらだにも
あはれなるかなや親の子を思ふ

Roma-ji: Mono iwanu yomo no kedamono sura dani mo aware naru kana ya oya no ko o omou
English Translation: Even the beasts
of the four quarters that cannot
utter a word—
how deeply moving it is,
the love of parent for child!
Meaning: Even the beasts of the four quarters, who cannot speak a word—how moving it is, the way a parent loves its child!
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 715

Headnote: "On the heart of compassion"
On the heart of compassion, the poet says that even speechless beasts are moving in a parent's love for its young, praising the bond of parent and child shared by all living things. Taking up the orphan's grief in the preceding poem, it sings of the preciousness of a parent's love.
The Ruijū text and the text transmitted by Teika read line 4 as aware naru kana. Kamo no Mabuchi remarked that line 3 should use either sura or dani, not both.

Line 1 means "who do not speak."
Line 2 means "the beasts of the four quarters."
Line 3 means "even," doubling sura and dani for emphasis.
Line 4 means "how moving it is!" eight syllables, with a break after the line.
Line 5 means "a parent's love for its child," in inversion; it pairs with "a child with no parents seeking its mother" in the preceding poem, the child seeking the parent and the parent loving the child in reversed form.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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