ひとめ見し野辺の景色はうら枯れて
露のよすがに宿る月かな
露のよすがに宿る月かな
- Roma-ji
-
Hitome mishi nobe no keshiki wa uragarete tsuyu no yosuga ni yadoru tsuki kana
- English Translation
-
The fields I once glimpsed,
now all their scenery lies
withered at the tips—
on the dewdrops for its home
the moonlight comes to lodge there
- Meaning
- The fields I once glanced upon have withered at the tips, and the moon comes to lodge there, with only the dew as its refuge.
- Commentary
-
Book Five Autumn Poems II 488
Headnote: "When the Regent and Chancellor was a Major Captain and had fifty moon poems composed."
This is the third poem of the sequence on the moon and autumn nights. The fields once seen have withered, and the moon lodges there with only the dew as its refuge. According to the headnote, it is from fifty moon poems commissioned by Fujiwara no Yoshitsune when he was a Major Captain.
The author's lay name was Fujiwara no Sadanaga; a nephew of Fujiwara no Shunzei, he became Shunzei's adopted son. He was appointed a compiler of the Shinkokinshū but died before it was presented.
The scene is a late-autumn night as plants begin to wither, in fields where dew remains.
The direct occasion was fifty moon poems that Fujiwara no Yoshitsune, while Major Captain of the Palace Guards, had poets compose.
The first line, "hitome mishi," means "once glimpsed," recalling the fields when their flowers were at their height.
In the second line, "wa" marks the scenery once seen as the topic.
In the third line, "ura" is the tip of a plant: "withered from the tips," showing the decline of the flourishing fields.
In the fourth line, "yosuga" means refuge or something to rely on: the little dew left in the withered fields becomes the moon's lodging.
In the last line, "kana" is exclamatory, and the moon reflected in dew is personified as lodging in it. In fields that have lost the look of their flowering, the moon still lodges, relying on dew—a scene layering late-autumn loneliness with the moon's purity. Whereas 487 likened moonlight to frost, this poem lodges the moon in dew, reflecting it in two different images, frost and dew.
- Author
- Jakuren
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- Late in the night's depth as the autumn draws to close, gazing at the moon, not one part of my sleeves spared, the dew has settled on them
- Sleeping all alone, on the long and trailing tail of the mountain bird frost seems to settle and stray— moonlight across my bedding
- On an autumn night, robes chilled, though I spread and pile straw mats layered up, there is nothing to compare to the moonlight spread below
- The long autumn nights have become the Long Month now— so it has turned out; no wonder, then, that I find myself waking in the night