Ogurayama fumoto no sato ni konoha chireba kozue ni haruru tsuki o miru kana

English Translation

At Mount Ogura
in the village at its foot
the leaves have scattered,
and through the treetops, clear,
I gaze upon the moon

Meaning

In the village at the foot of Mount Ogura the leaves have fallen, and now I gaze at the moon shining clear through the bare treetops.

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 603

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the thirteenth poem of the winter-moon sequence. Now that the leaves have fallen in the village at the foot of Mount Ogura, the moon shines clear through the bare treetops. The headnote continues from the preceding poem with no topic given, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Saigyō Hōshi," is Saigyō. His lay name was Satō Norikiyo, and he served Retired Emperor Toba as a warrior of the Northern Guard, but took holy orders at twenty-three, traveled through the provinces, and left the poetry collection Sankashū.
The scene is a winter night after the leaves have fallen, and the place is the village at the foot of Mount Ogura in Yamashiro Province.
The direct occasion is not recorded.

The first line, "ogurayama," names a poetic place in Yamashiro Province, a mountain in Saga, present-day Ukyō Ward, Kyoto, facing Arashiyama across the Ōi River. It is famed for its autumn leaves.
The second line, "fumoto no sato ni," means "in the village at the foot of Mount Ogura."
The third line, "konoha chireba," means "when the leaves fall" and runs to six syllables, one over the count. "Ba" attached to the perfective form expresses an established condition.
The fourth line, "kozue ni haruru," means "shining clear through the treetops." The treetops once thick with leaves no longer block the moon after the leaves have fallen.
The last line, "tsuki o miru kana," closes with the exclamatory particle "kana." Following 592 in this book, which sang of moonlight filtering between the trees, and 593, which imagined a moon unclouded by leaves, this poem too sings of a moon seen clearly because the leaves have fallen, repeating the pairing of falling leaves and moon. From the morning frost on crimson leaves in the preceding poem, it returns to the night moon after the leaves are gone.

Author

Saigyō

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other