Tag Archives: oya

Kinkai wakashū 717

Composed when I saw a little child crying for his mother by the side of the road and, on asking folk nearby, being told that both his mother and father had died.

いとほしやみるに涙もとどまらずおやもなき子の母をたづぬる

itōshi ya
miru ni namida mo
todomarazu
oya mo naki ko no
haha o tazunuru
O, how pitiful!
The sight of tears
Unending on
An orphan child
Searching for his mother…

717