月見ればちぢに物こそ悲しけれ
わが身ひとつの秋にはあらねど
わが身ひとつの秋にはあらねど
- Roma-ji
-
Tsuki mireba chiji ni mono koso kanashikere
waga mi hitotsu no aki ni wa aranedo - English Translation
-
When I see the moon,
my thoughts scatter into grief—
in countless ways;
though this autumn is not mine
alone, it feels so to my heart.
- Meaning
- When I look upon the moon, sorrow rises in countless ways, though this autumn does not belong to me alone.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Autumn Poems (Part One)
This poem was composed and paired at a poetry contest held at the residence of Prince Koretada.
While the feeling of sorrow upon seeing the moon is a familiar expression, the lower lines—“though this autumn is not mine alone”—carry a deeper nuance, as if the speaker is trying to persuade themselves, yet still feels as though autumn exists only to sadden them.
A contrast is also employed between “in countless ways” (chiji ni) and “myself alone,” evoking the rhetorical pairing of many and one.
This poem is also included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
- Author
- Oe no Chisato
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- White clouds drift on— with beating wings they cross and fly, the passing wild geese; even their number is seen in the moon of an autumn night.
- It must be midnight— the night has grown deep, it seems; as the wild geese cry, across that sounding autumn sky the moon is seen to pass along.
- In the moon above, the cassia tree there too, perhaps, in autumn still turns to crimson leaves—so that its light shines all the more bright.
- On an autumn night, the moonlight shines so bright that even Kurabu’s mount— the mountain of deep darkness— seems as though I could cross it.