I am a woman who had lived for years
At Kitajirikawa in the capital;
When suddenly I lost my only child,
Lured from me by a man who kidnapped him.
They told me that beyond Ōsaka’s pass[55],
Far to the East, to Azuma, he went.
And since I heard it I have felt my mind
Losing its hold on ordinary things,
Set only, full of love, upon the way
The child did follow. Tracing out the marks
Of his dear feet, I wander here and there.
CHORUS
I
Thousands of miles the journey is in length,
Yet never does the parent’s heart forget
The child she loves and seeks. So do we hear.
CHORUS
II
The nature of the bond[56] is transient,
The bond is transient in this world, and yet
Parent and child are destined not to live
In loving union even this short while.
But, like the four birds in the fable old,[57]
Between them cruel separation lies.
And now, alas! the mother’s loving search
Of her young child has come to its sad end,
For she has reached the river Sumida,[58]
The river Sumida that flows between
The province Shimotsuke and Musashi.
THE MOTHER [Words]
Pray, O Boatman, kindly let me also enter in your ferry.