Waga Io wa (Kokinshu / Priest Kisen, Hyakunin Isshu No. 8) Garu JP
I moved to a town far from the station
Brewing a morning with no commute
Fifteen minutes by bike to the convenience store
A paradise that wears the word "inconvenient" well
I hear my city friends are saying —
laughing, "that guy ran away"
My hut stands southeast of the capital — and thus I live
Yet people call it Uji, the Hill of Woe, they say
I didn't run away — I chose this
This is just how I'm living, you know
Feel free to continue the rumors
The weather here is fine again today
In the corner of my video-call screen
the green of the fields comes peeking in
My income shrank a little, sure —
but my sunset yield has doubled
Sometimes they ask, "don't you get lonely?"
The quiet outweighs the loneliness
My hut stands southeast of the capital — and thus I live
Yet people call it Uji, the Hill of Woe, they say
A thousand years ago, on this same hill of Uji,
lived a man they gossiped about the same way
"He has renounced the world," they said — he smiled
and made a poem: "and thus I live"
"The Hill of Woe" — that's what they read into Uji
Nicely punned, I'll give you that
But the man himself was doing just fine —
"come in for some tea," he laughed
My hut stands southeast of the capital — and thus I live
Yet people call it Uji, the Hill of Woe, they say
I didn't run away — I chose this
This is just how I'm living, you know
If you're coming to visit, come anytime
The weather here is fine again today
Uji, the Hill of Woe……
or so the people say
