Classical Japanese Database

Text #109.

by #19. Saigyô (西行法師)

Season:

N/A  

Subject:

Pines, death  

Commentary:

"On looking at the pine that stands in front of my hut"
This poem was written in front of a pine at the site of Kobo Daishi's birth. Saigyô was, of course, wrong in his prediction.

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Japanese:

ひさにへて
わが後の世を
とへよ松
跡したふべき
人もなき身ぞ

Romanization:

Hisa ni hete
waga nochi no yo wo
toeyo matsu
ato shitôbeki
hito mo naki mi zo

Translation #110:

Live through the long years,
pine, and pray for me
in my next existence,
I who'll have no one
to visit the places I once was