Ima yori wa konohagakure mo nakeredomo shigure ni nokoru murakumo no tsuki

English Translation

From this time on
there are no leaves to hide it,
and yet the moon remains
among the scattered clouds
the winter showers leave behind

Meaning

From now on there are no leaves left to hide it, and yet the moon is still caught among the scattered clouds that the winter showers have left behind.

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 597

Headnote: "For the Poetry Contest in Fifteen Hundred Rounds."
This is the seventh poem of the winter-moon sequence. Now that the leaves have fallen, the moon will no longer be hidden by them, yet the scattered clouds left behind by the showers still cover it. According to the headnote, it was composed for the Poetry Contest in Fifteen Hundred Rounds.
The author, "Minamoto no Tomochika," is Minamoto no Tomochika. A son of Minamoto no Moromitsu and the elder brother of Go-Toba-in no Kunaikyō, he served as a fellow of Retired Emperor Go-Toba's Bureau of Poetry.
The scene is a winter night after the leaves have all fallen, and the place is where one looks up at the moon.
The direct occasion is the Poetry Contest in Fifteen Hundred Rounds held by Retired Emperor Go-Toba.

The first line, "ima yori wa," means "from now on, when the leaves have all fallen."
The second line, "konohagakure mo," means "being hidden by leaves." Taking up "konoha kumorade" in 593 of this book, it speaks of a moon no longer blocked by leaves.
In the third line, "nakeredomo," "domo" is a concessive conjunctive particle: "though there is none."
The fourth line, "shigure ni nokoru," means "left behind after the showers" and modifies "murakumo" in the last line.
The last line, "murakumo no tsuki," closes on a noun, naming the moon covered by scattered clouds. Even when the leaves that hid the moon are gone, the scattered clouds of the showers now hide it, and the poem sings of the passing from one veil to another. Taking up "murakumo ni" in the third line of the preceding poem, the word "murakumo" continues here, showing that even after the leaves have fallen the moon is still often clouded.

Author

Minamoto no Tomochika

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other