Shimo o matsu magaki no kiku no yoi no ma ni oki mayou iro wa yama no ha no tsuki

English Translation

On chrysanthemums
by the hedge that wait for frost,
in the early night
a color seems to settle—
the moon on the mountain's rim

Meaning

On the chrysanthemums by the hedge, waiting for frost, a whiteness seems to settle early in the evening—it is the moon on the mountain's rim.

Commentary

Book Five Autumn Poems II 507

Headnote: "When I presented a fifty-poem sequence, on the theme 'the moon on chrysanthemums by the hedge.'"
This is the first poem of the chrysanthemum sequence. The whiteness that seems like frost settling early in the evening on the chrysanthemums by the hedge turns out to be the light of the moon on the mountain's rim. According to the headnote, it was composed on the theme "the moon on chrysanthemums by the hedge" within a fifty-poem sequence.
The author was a daughter of Minamoto no Moromitsu and a lady-in-waiting and poet in the service of Retired Emperor Go-Toba. Recognized young for her talent, she was active in the retired emperor's poetic circle, but died early.
The scene is an evening in late autumn, in a garden with chrysanthemums blooming by a hedge.
The direct occasion was the theme "the moon on chrysanthemums by the hedge" within a fifty-poem sequence presented to Retired Emperor Go-Toba. Chrysanthemums were admired even as their color changed with frost, and so were sung of as flowers awaiting frost.
The main text writes the last line with the character for "leaf" (ha), but the reading line gives "yama no ha no tsuki," so it is interpreted and written as "the rim of the mountain."

The first line, "shimo o matsu," means awaiting frost, personifying the chrysanthemum whose color changes with frost.
In the second line, "magaki" is a loosely woven fence of bamboo or brushwood; the line corresponds to "hedge" and "chrysanthemums" in the topic.
The third line, "yoi no ma ni," means "while the night is still young," too early an hour for frost.
In the fourth line, "oki mayou" means "as if frost had settled." As in "frost seems to settle and stray—moonlight across my bedding" in 487, moonlight is likened to frost.
The last line ends on a noun, revealing at the close what the frost-like whiteness really is. Reasoning that frost could not settle so early in the evening, the poem uncovers it as moonlight from the mountain's rim, placing the topic's "moon" at the end. Whereas 487 likened moonlight on the bed to frost on a pheasant's tail, this poem likens it to frost on chrysanthemums by the hedge, carrying "oki mayou" into a chrysanthemum poem.

Author

Kunaikyo

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other