Kinkai wakashū 712

うつつともゆめともしらぬ世にしあればありとてありとたのむべき身か

utsutsu tomo
yume tomo shiranu
yo ni shi areba
ari tote ari to
tanomubeki mi ka
Whether ‘tis reality
Or dream, I know not of
This world, so
Do I live? Is that something
Upon which to rely?[i]

712


[i] See: Topic unknown. 世の中は夢か現か現とも夢とも知らずありてなければ yo no naka wa / yume ka utsutsu ka / utsutsu tomo / yume tomo shirazu / arite nakereba ‘Is this world of ours / A dream? Or is it real? / If it be real, / Or dream, I know not; / Here, and yet not, so…’ Anonymous (Kokinshū XVIII: 942)

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