Kimi inaba tsuki matsu tote mo nagameyaramu azuma no kata no yūgure no sora

English Translation

Once you have gone away,
saying I await the moon
I shall gaze afar
toward the eastern quarter,
at the sky of evening.

Meaning

Once you have gone, I will say I am waiting for the moon, and gaze off toward the eastern sky at evening.

Commentary

Book Nine Parting Poems 885

Headnote: "When giving a farewell to someone going to the province of Mutsu."
This is a poem seeing off someone bound for the east. After the other has gone, the speaker says, he will gaze at the eastern sky under the pretext of waiting for the moon. According to the headnote, it was composed at a farewell for someone going down to Mutsu.
The author's lay name was Satō Norikiyo; a guard of the retired emperor Toba, he took the tonsure, traveled through the provinces, and left the personal collection Sankashū.
The scene is a leave-taking at evening, and the place is the capital.
The direct occasion was the farewell given to someone going down to Mutsu.

The first line, "kimi inaba," means "once you have gone." "Inu" means to depart, and the irrealis form with "ba" makes a supposition.
The second line, "tsuki matsu tote mo," means "even saying that I wait for the moon." The moon is set down as a pretext for looking east.
The third line, "nagameyaramu," means "I shall gaze far off," the conjectural "mu" picturing how he will be after the parting.
The fourth line, "azuma no kata no," is the direction of Mutsu, where the other is bound. The quarter where the moon rises and the quarter where the traveler goes are one and the same.
The last line, "yūgure no sora," ends on a noun, gathering the poem into a view of the sky. The conceit of waiting for the moon while in truth thinking of a person is shared with 877, where the moon links those far apart. Following "aki no yūgure" in 874, evening recurs as the hour of parting.

Author

Saigyō

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other