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Hyakunin Isshu No. 83 · Kōtaigōgū no Daibu Toshinari (Fujiwara no Shunzei)Yo no naka yo

“The Same Dream, Once More” — Kōtaigōgū no Daibu Toshinari (Fujiwara no Shunzei)Source: Senzai Wakashū, Miscellaneous II
世の中よ 道こそなけれ 思ひ入る
山の奥にも 鹿ぞ鳴くなる
Yo no naka yo michi koso nakere omoi iru
yama no oku ni mo shika zo naku naru
Ah, this world: there is no road of escape. Lost in thought, I went deep into the mountains,
and even there, I hear a deer crying.
Hyakunin IsshuSenzai WakashūMiscellaneousAutumnImpermanenceLamentDeep in the mountains
Yo no naka yo jacket art

What the poem says

There is no escape from this world. Even deep in the mountains where I fled to leave it behind, a deer cries out in sorrow.

Music Video

ミュージックビデオ
MUSIC VIDEO — COMING SOON

The Story

歌のものがたり

Historical Background

Fujiwara no Shunzei was a poet of the late Heian and early Kamakura periods and the father of Fujiwara no Teika. He later compiled the Senzai Wakashū. He composed this poem in his late twenties, on the theme of the deer, as part of a hundred-poem sequence of personal reflections. Around that time, many people were leaving the world to live in the mountains; Saigyō, of the same generation, took Buddhist vows. Shunzei did not, and only became a monk late in life.

The Poet's Heart

There is no road of escape from this world. Even deep in the mountains where he went, lost in thought, a deer is crying. "Omoi iru" means both "to brood" and "to enter" the mountains. He looked for a place to escape, and even there was a voice of sorrow. It can be read as despair, as resignation, or as a kind of acceptance: the reflection of the young Shunzei.

What We Put into the Lyrics

What we cared about most in this poem is that, where he fled, he could not help hearing the deer. You run to a place no voice can reach, and someone there is crying too. We felt that was not despair, but the discovery that you were not alone. So we set the song in a school library, where a student runs after her dream is laughed at. At the tears of a stranger trembling deep in the forest of books, her clenched hand comes undone. The poem says there is no road of escape, but there is a road back. Not the back door she came in through: she opens the front door with her own hand, smooths out the crumpled paper, and traces the same dream once more. We ended the song with a quiet resolve that does not need to shout. The beat never stops from start to finish, because the world itself never stops.

Lyrics

歌詞
Japanese

世の中よ（千載集/皇太后宮大夫俊成・百人一首83番）Garu JP

Verse 1

五時間目の 教室

進路の 紙を 読み上げられる

「現実を 見ろ」の ひとことに

小さな 笑いが 広がる

Verse 2

くしゃくしゃの 紙を 握って

後ろの 扉を すり抜ける

図書室なら 誰の 声も

もう 追いつけない

Pre-Chorus

本棚の 陰に 座ると

光の 中を 埃が 舞う

Chorus

世の中よ 道こそなけれ 思ひ入る

山の奥にも 鹿ぞ鳴くなる

逃げこんだ 本の 森でも

誰かが 泣いている

Verse 3

細く 途切れる 声が

棚の 向こうから 届く

すきまに 見えた 背中が

小さく 肩を 震わせる

Verse 4

わたしの ためじゃない 涙に

握りしめた 手が ほどける

逃げた 先にも

誰かの 長い 午後が あった

Chorus

世の中よ 道こそなけれ 思ひ入る

山の奥にも 鹿ぞ鳴くなる

抜け道の ない 道で

あの子も わたしも 泣いている

Bridge

世の中よ 道こそなけれ 思ひ入る

山の奥にも 鹿ぞ鳴くなる

Verse 5

涙の あとを 袖で 拭いて

来た 廊下を 戻る

前の 扉を この手で 開ける

集まる 視線の 中を 歩く

Final Chorus

世の中よ 道こそなけれ 思ひ入る

山の奥にも 鹿ぞ鳴くなる

くしゃくしゃの 紙を ひらいて

同じ 夢を もう一度 指で なぞる

English

Yo no naka yo (Senzai-shu / Fujiwara no Shunzei, Hyakunin Isshu No. 83) Garu JP

Fifth period, in the classroom

my career-plan form is read out loud

"Get real," says one voice

and a little laughter spreads

Clutching the crumpled paper

I slip out through the back door

In the library, no one's voice

can catch up with me anymore

I sit down in the shadow of the shelves

and dust drifts through the light

Ah, this world: there is no road of escape

even deep in the mountains I fled to, a deer is crying

Even in the forest of books where I ran to hide

someone is crying

A thin voice, breaking off

reaches me from beyond the shelves

Through a gap, I see a back

and small shoulders trembling

At tears that are not for me

my clenched hand comes undone

Even where I ran to

someone else was living a long afternoon

Ah, this world: there is no road of escape

even deep in the mountains I fled to, a deer is crying

On a road with no way out

that girl and I are both crying

Ah, this world: there is no road of escape

even deep in the mountains I fled to, a deer is crying

I wipe my tears away with my sleeve

and walk back down the corridor

I open the front door with my own hand

and walk through the gathering eyes

Ah, this world: there is no road of escape

even deep in the mountains I fled to, a deer is crying

I smooth out the crumpled paper

and trace the same dream once more with my finger

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