About this work
Heard alone on New Year’s Eve, the temple bells become a call to examine the year, cleanse the heart, and begin again. The poem also invokes the traditional 108 worldly desires marked by the ringing of the bells.
Parallel reading
日本語と英語で読む
Read the Japanese original and its English translation together. On smaller screens, each language follows in sequence.
日本語原文 Japanese original
我が身に潜む汚れをも
心新たに大掃除したら
除夜の鐘に身を清める
ひとつ ゴーン・・・
ふたつ ゴーン・・・
鐘の音に耳を傾けて
今年も終わりを告げる
振り返る一年を浄化して胸に響く
静寂に心の平和を願う
今日の教えが明日の私をつくる
日々精進 日々新化
百八つの煩悩を打ち破って
足元を見つめる
新年に期待をよせて
また新しい自分に生まれ変わるよ
しんみりと しみじみと
ゴーン・・・と除夜の鐘なる
ひとりきりの大晦日
English translation 英訳
AI-assisted English translation. The Japanese original remains authoritative.
If I give even the stains hidden within me
a great cleaning, making my heart anew,
I purify myself in the New Year’s Eve bells.
One—gong...
Two—gong...
I listen to the sound of the bells
announcing the close of another year;
they echo in my heart, cleansing the year I look back upon.
In the stillness, I pray for peace of mind.
Today’s lesson will shape the person I am tomorrow.
Each day, devotion; each day, made anew.
Breaking through the hundred and eight worldly desires,
I look down at where I stand.
I place my hopes in the new year
and am born once more as a new self.
Quietly, deeply,
the New Year’s Eve bell rings—gong...
on an evening I spend alone.
Original wording, author credits, notes and source materials are preserved there.