Mishi hito mo tofu no urakaze otosenu ni tsurenaku sumeru aki no yo no tsuki

English Translation

Those I used to see
send no word, and the sea wind
of Tofu is still,
yet so coldly shining clear
is the moon of this autumn night.

Meaning

Those I once knew send no word, silent as the wind at the bay of Tofu, and yet, indifferent to it all, the moon of this autumn night shines clear.

Commentary

Book Ten Travel Poems 930

Headnote: "Sent to a lady-in-waiting of the Ōmiya on the fifteenth night of the eighth month, remembering the capital while he was in Mutsu Province."
This is the first of a sequence of poems on the moon seen on a journey. Though those he once knew send no word, the autumn moon alone shines clear and indifferent, a poem of longing for the capital from a distant post. According to the headnote, it was sent to a lady-in-waiting of the Ōmiya when, in Mutsu Province, he remembered the capital on the fifteenth night of the eighth month.
The author, Tachibana no Tamenaka, was an official and poet of the mid-Heian period. He went down to Mutsu as its governor. "Ason" is an honorific added to the names of those of the fourth or fifth rank.
The scene is the fifteenth night of the eighth month, in Mutsu Province.
The direct occasion is seeing the moon of the fifteenth night of the eighth month in Mutsu and remembering the capital.
The "Ōmiya" of the headnote is a title for a grand empress dowager or empress dowager, and here the poem is sent to a lady-in-waiting serving at her residence. The fifteenth night of the eighth month is the night of the harvest moon, when moon-viewing banquets were held at court.

The first line, "mishi hito mo," means "those I used to see." It refers to the ladies-in-waiting left behind in the capital.
In the second line, "tofu no urakaze," "tofu" carries both "tou," to visit or send word, and the bay of Tofu, a famous place in Mutsu Province.
The third line, "otosenu ni," means "though no sound comes, though no word comes." "Oto" stands for both the sound of the bay wind and news from someone.
The fourth line, "tsurenaku sumeru," means "shining clear, indifferent." It shows the moon alone shining unchanged, heedless of the silence from the capital.
The last line, "aki no yo no tsuki," means "the moon of the autumn night," closing on a noun. It is the harvest moon of the fifteenth night of the eighth month. As 908 laments the lack of word from the capital with "tou o kikaneba," this poem laments through the word "tofu" that no one from the capital calls. From here the poems on the moon on a journey continue.

Author

Tachibana no Tamenaka

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other