Shiga no ura ya tōzakariyuku namima yori kōrite izuru ariake no tsuki

English Translation

Ah, Shiga Bay—
from between the waves
that draw ever farther off,
frozen bright it rises,
the moon that lingers into dawn

Meaning

At Shiga Bay, from between the waves drawing ever farther from the freezing shore, the dawn moon rises as if frozen itself.

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 639

Headnote: "On 'Winter Moon over the Lake' at the poetry contest held at the house of the Regent and Chancellor."
This is the eleventh poem of the ice sequence. From between the waves at Shiga Bay, drawing ever farther off as the shore freezes, the dawn moon rises cold and bright as if frozen. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Winter Moon over the Lake" at a poetry contest held at the house of the Regent and Chancellor.
The author, "Fujiwara no Ietaka Ason," is Fujiwara no Ietaka. A son of the Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Mitsutaka, he was one of the compilers of the Shin Kokin Wakashū and, rising to Junior Second Rank, was called the Mibu Second Rank.
The scene is before dawn on a winter night, and the place is Shiga Bay in Ōmi Province.
The direct occasion is the topic "Winter Moon over the Lake" at a poetry contest held at the house of the Regent and Chancellor Fujiwara no Yoshitsune.
The foundation poem is Kaikaku's poem in the Goshūi Wakashū: "Sayo fukuru mama ni migiwa ya kōruramu tōzakariyuku Shiga no uranami" (Is the shore freezing as the night grows late? The waves of Shiga Bay draw ever farther off).

The first line, "shiga no ura ya," names a poetic place in Ōmi Province, the bay on the southwestern shore of Lake Biwa, with "ya" as an interjectory particle calling up the name with feeling.
The second line, "tōzakariyuku," takes the fourth line of the foundation poem as it stands, describing the waves drawing farther from the shore as ice spreads out from the water's edge.
The third line, "namima yori," means "from between the waves."
The fourth line, "kōrite izuru," means "rising as if frozen," overlaying the ice on the lake with the cold brilliance of the winter moon.
The last line, "ariake no tsuki," closes on a noun and presents the "winter moon" of the topic. Taking up the foundation poem, which caught the freezing of the shore as the night deepened through the receding waves, the poem widens the scene to a dawn moon rising, frozen bright, from between those receding waves. Following the inlet glazing with thin ice at the shore in the preceding poem, it sings of a lake freezing outward from the shore, and the next poem, 640, also sings of a moon shining clear on ice. It shares its last line with 594, 595, and 608 in this book.

Author

Fujiwara no Ietaka

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other