曇りなく千歳にすめる水の面に
宿れる月の影ものどけし
宿れる月の影ものどけし
- Roma-ji
-
Kumori naku chitose ni sumeru mizu no omo ni yadoreru tsuki no kage mo nodokeshi
- English Translation
-
Without any cloud,
on the water's face, clear and dwelling
a thousand years,
the moon that lodges there—
its light, too, is calm and still.
- Meaning
- On the face of the water, cloudless and clear, dwelling there a thousand years, the light of the moon that rests upon it is tranquil too.
- Commentary
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Book Seven Felicitation Poems 722
Headnote: "In the Ninth Month when Retired Emperor Go-Ichijō was born, on a night when the moon shone without a shadow, the Ōnijō Regent, then a Middle Captain, invited the young people out, put them in a boat on the pond, and poled it around in the shade of the pines on the island; this looked so charming that I composed this."
This is the first poem of the sequence celebrating the reign through clear water and the light of the sky. The moonlight lodged on the face of the pond, cloudless and clear for a thousand years, is tranquil as well. According to the headnote, on a bright moonlit night in the Ninth Month when Go-Ichijō was born, the Ōnijō Regent, then a Middle Captain, invited young people into a boat on the pond and poled it through the shade of the pines on the island, and the sight was so charming that the poem was composed.
The author was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tametoki. She served Shōshi, consort of Emperor Ichijō, and wrote The Tale of Genji.
The scene is a bright moonlit night in the Ninth Month when Go-Ichijō was born, and the place is a mansion pond with pines standing on its island.
The direct occasion is the moonlit sight of a boat carrying young people around the pine-shaded island in the pond.
"Go-Ichijō" is Prince Atsuhira, son of Emperor Ichijō, born in the Ninth Month of Kankō 5 (1008) at Fujiwara no Michinaga's Tsuchimikado mansion. "The Ōnijō Regent" is Fujiwara no Norimichi, a son of Michinaga.
The first line, "kumori naku," means "without a cloud." Taking up "a night when the moon shone without a shadow" of the headnote, it shows the brightness of the clear moonlit night and echoes the clarity of the water below.
In the second line, "chitose ni sumeru," "sumeru" is a pivot word meaning both that the water is clear and that it dwells for a thousand years. At a celebration of a birth, it suggests a reign lasting a thousand years.
The third line, "mizu no omo ni," means "on the face of the pond," and has six syllables, one more than the norm.
The fourth line, "yadoreru tsuki no," means "of the moon reflected on the water." "Yadoru," to lodge, describes moonlight reflected in water, and "ru" expresses continuation.
In the last line, "kage mo nodokeshi," "kage" is the moonlight. The particle "mo," too, shows that along with the clarity of the pond the moonlight is also tranquil. Layering the clarity of sky and water, the poem celebrates the lasting age of the newborn prince. The next poem, 723, also uses "suminureba" as a pivot word, continuing the conceit of seeing long duration in clear pond water.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- In the Godless Month, on the evergreen that knows no crimson leaves at all, for ten thousand ages hang, O white clouds upon the peak.
- The mountain wind, whether it blows or blows not, where the white waves come breaking upon the rock's roots— how long they have endured.
- The water of the pond, through the ages, for so long has dwelt and grown clear, that the jewel weeds on its floor are seen to glimmer with light.
- Of my lord's great reign, even the count of thousand years is hidden no more— in the light of the cloudless sky I see it there, shining clear.