Akazarishi tsukimosakosowa omourame furukinamidamo wasurarenuyoo

English Translation

The moon that never
had its fill must surely think
just the same as you—
of an age whose older tears
cannot be forgotten either

Meaning

The moon that never had enough must think as you do, of an age whose old tears cannot be forgotten.

Commentary

Book One: Odoro no Shita

Go-Toba, the eighty-second sovereign, was the fourth son of Takakura. After the Taira fled west with the child emperor Antoku, the Cloistered Emperor Go-Shirakawa summoned his grandsons to look at them; the third prince wept and would not go near him, but the fourth prince climbed at once onto his knee and seemed fond of him, so the Cloistered Emperor exclaimed that here was a true grandson, and in the eighth month of Juei 2 set him on the throne at the age of four. The sacred sword had gone down into the sea with the former emperor, so that for the first time an accession took place without the three regalia. After the Cloistered Emperor's death Go-Toba ruled in his own right; the realm was at peace and the way of poetry flourished. In Kenkyu 9, at nineteen, he abdicated to Tsuchimikado and began his cloistered rule, building a villa at Minase where he spent himself on the pleasures of the seasons. He held the poetry contest in fifteen hundred rounds, established the Bureau of Poetry, had the Shinkokinshu compiled, and held its celebratory banquet in Genkyu 2. In Jogen 4 he set Tsuchimikado aside and raised Juntoku to the throne, and Juntoku too gave himself to poetry. At Minase the retired emperor played go and small archery, explained the old precedent of the stakes, and had a guardsman prepare the dish described by Murasaki Shikibu—in everything he showed the range of his gifts. At the selected poetry contest of Kempo 2, Fujiwara no Hideyoshi of the Northern Guard was called on for nine poems; the Yoshimizu bishop Jien offered the retired emperor a long poem, and Teika wrote a long poem in reply on the spot. The new retired emperor Tsuchimikado composed a hundred poems privately, showed them to Ietaka and Teika, and exchanged poems with Teika.
Go-Toba's personal name was Takahira; he was the fourth son of Takakura, and his mother was Shichijoin, daughter of Nobutaka, Master of the Office of Palace Repairs. Tsuchimikado's personal name was Tamehito, and his mother was Shomeimon'in, daughter of the priest Noen and adopted daughter of the Inner Minister Michichika. Juntoku's personal name was Morinari, and his mother was Shumeimon'in. The regent Kujo Yoshitsune was called a saint of poetry, and the compilers of the Shinkokinshu were Michitomo, Ariie, Teika, Ietaka and Masatsune. The Middle Counselor Kanemitsu, Fujiwara no Kanemitsu, and the Middle Counselor Sukezane, Fujiwara no Sukezane, were each called on for screen poems at an accession thanksgiving. Kunaikyo was descended from Emperor Murakami through the Minister of the Left Toshifusa, and was the daughter of a man who died holding only the fourth rank. Fujiwara no Hideyoshi served in the retired emperor's Northern Guard, and the Yoshimizu bishop Jien was a poet-monk who long held the office of Tendai abbot.
The new retired emperor Tsuchimikado, as he passed his days quietly, wrote nothing but poems, and did not care to gather people for formal occasions. In the Kempo years he composed a hundred poems privately and sent them to Ietaka of the third rank and to Teika, Minister of Ceremonial, describing them as the work of a child of no consequence.
Among them was the poem on recollection, "Akinoiroo okurimukaete kumonoueni narenishitsukimo monowasuresuna". Teika, startled and abashed on reading it, wrote on the back that he had been shamefully taken in, and presented this reply.
The retired emperor must have found it moving, the narrator says, asking how his heart could fail to be stirred, and closes the book by remarking how pitiable it is that even now he lives somewhat apart from the world.

The first line, never satisfied, takes up the familiar moon of the imperial poem and says that the moon too once went without its fill. The added particle in the second line receives the imperial poem's own phrasing, and the adverb answers the auxiliary of present conjecture at the close: it must think just so. The older tears of the fourth line are tears shed long ago; where the imperial poem asked the moon not to forget, this answers that the moon itself cannot forget. The particle at the end carries a note of feeling and leaves the phrase suspended. A plea not to forget is turned into the assurance that nothing has been forgotten, and by taking back the words moon and forget the exchange is plainly joined. Speaking for the other's heart rather than addressing it, the reply consoles the abdicated sovereign without touching his feelings directly.

Author

Fujiwara no Teika

Source

Masukagami

Other