Gosho 法蓮抄 Letter to Horen

　日蓮大聖人御一代絵図より　From the Biographical Picture of the Nichiren Daishonin

北国の習ひなれば冬は殊(こと)に風はげしく雪ふかし。衣(ころも)薄く食ともし。

I found the wind particularly strong in winter, the snows deep, the clothing thin, and the food scarce.

In a northern country the wind was particularly strong and the snow was deep. The clothing was thin, the food was scarce.

根を移されし橘(たちばな)の自然にから(枳)たちとなりける(　)も、身の上につみしられたり。

I well understood then how the mandarin orange tree, uprooted and transplanted to a different locale, can quite naturally turn into atriple-leaved orange tree.

So, I well understood how the mandarin orange which is uprooted and transplanted to a different locale turns into a trifoliate orange naturally.

栖(すみか)にはおばな(尾花)かる(刈)かや(萱)おひしげれる野中の御三昧(さんまい)ばらに、おちやぶれたる草堂の、上は雨もり壁(かべ)は風もたまらぬ傍(かたわ)らなり。

My dwelling was a dilapidated grass-roof hut in the midst of a field thick with eulalia and pampas grass where corpses were buried. Rain leaked in, and the walls did not keep out the wind.

My dwelling was a dilapidated house for a funeral service in a field thick with pampas grass where corpses were buried. Rain had leaked in, and the walls did not keep out the wind.

昼夜耳に聞く者はまく(枕)らにさ(冴)ゆる風の音、朝(ちょう)暮(ぼ)に眼に遮(さえぎ)る者は遠近(おちこち)の道を踏む雪なり。

Day and night the only sound reaching my ears was the sighing of the wind by my pillow; each morning the sight that met my eyes was the snow that buried the roads far and near.

Day and night the only sound reaching my ears was the wind being heard on my pillow; at dawn and sunset the sight that met my eyes was the snow that buried even the roads of various place.

現身に餓鬼(がき)道(どう)を経(へ)、寒地獄に堕(お)ちぬ。

I felt as though I had passed through the realm of hungry spirits and fallen alive into one of the cold hells.

I felt as though I had passed through the hungry road and fallen into the cold hells.

彼の蘇(そ)武(ぶ)が十九年の間、胡(ご)国(こく)に留められて雪を食し、李(り)陵(りょう)が厳(がん)窟(くつ)に入って六年蓑(みの)をきてすごしけるも我が身の上なりき。

I experienced the same thing as Su Wu, who was detained for nineteen years in the land of the northern barbarians and ate snow to keep himself alive, or Li Ling, who dwelled for six years in a rocky cave, clothed in a coat of straw.

I experienced the same thing as Su Wu who was detained for nineteen years in the land of the northern barbarians and ate snow to keep himself alive, or Li Ling who had dwelled six years in a cave and clothed a coat of straws.

つづく　Continued

　　　　　　　蘇武

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