Yoi no ma ni sate mo nubeki tsuki naraba yama no ha chikaki mono wa omowaji

English Translation

If it were a moon
one could look at for a while
and then go to sleep
I would not be troubled by
the nearness of the ridgeline

Meaning

If it were a moon one could look at in the early night and then sleep, I should not fret at how near the ridge it has come.

Commentary

Book Four Autumn Poems I 416

Headnote: as in the preceding poem, topic unknown.
The poem grieves at the moon's setting. The original gives no fresh headnote.
Princess Shokushi, a daughter of Emperor Go-Shirakawa, had served as High Priestess of the Kamo Shrine. This is her sixth appearance in this book, after the three hundred and eightieth poem.
The time is a night in autumn; no place is given.
The occasion of composition is not recorded.

The first line means within the early night, the phrase used in Doin's four hundred and fourteenth poem.
The second line means: and with that, as it stands; the auxiliary expresses what would be proper, so that one might go to sleep. It is the idea of Izumi Shikibu's four hundred and eighth poem, which could not bring itself to look and then sleep, and the two handle one argument.
The third line is a supposition.
The fourth line means that the moon has come near the ridge, so that its setting is close.
The auxiliary at the close expresses negative intention. If it were a moon one need not regret, one would not brood: a contrary-to-fact statement which says, from the other side, that the setting is regretted and sleep impossible. A supposition is raised to show the actual case by implication.

Author

Princess Shokushi

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other