Koto towamu Nojima ga saki no amagoromo nami to tsuki to ni ikaga shioruru

English Translation

I would ask of them
the sea-folk's robes at the cape
of Nojima: which
is it, the waves or the moon
that leaves them soaked as they are

Meaning

I would ask the fishers' robes at the cape of Nojima: is it the waves or the moon that leaves them wet?

Commentary

Book Four Autumn Poems I 402

Headnote: topic unknown.
The fourth poem on the moon at the shore, asking whether the fishers' robes are wet from the waves or from the moon. The headnote gives no topic and nothing is known of the circumstances.
The poet was a lady-in-waiting to Shichijoin Shokushi, the mother of Retired Emperor Go-Toba; her dates are not recorded. The poet of the three hundred and sixth piece served the same mistress.
The time is a night in autumn; the place is the cape of Nojima in Awaji Province.
The occasion of composition is not recorded.

The verb in the first line means to ask, to address, used in Princess Shokushi's two hundred and seventy-seventh poem in Book Three; an auxiliary of intention follows.
The second line fixes the place; the possessive is an old form.
The third line names the robe of a fisher.
The fourth line means: by the waves or by the moon. The waves wet with seawater, and the moon makes the cloth seem wet by lodging its light in it.
The verb at the close means to be soaked and limp. The three hundred and ninety-ninth poem gave a sleeve holding the moon and the four hundred and first a sleeve wet with labour; this one sets the two side by side and asks which. Three poems stand together on the fishers' sleeves.

Author

Dainagon of Shichijoin

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other