Morotomo ni ideshi sora koso wasurarene miyako no yama no ariake no tsuki

English Translation

Together we left,
and that sky I cannot forget,
though time goes by;
above the capital's hills,
the moon that lingered into dawn.

Meaning

I cannot forget the sky under which we set out together: the moon lingering at dawn above the hills of the capital.

Commentary

Book Ten Travel Poems 936

Headnote: "Composed as a travel poem."
This is the seventh of a sequence of poems on the moon seen on a journey. The speaker cannot forget the sky under which he set out in company with the dawn moon over the hills of the capital, looking back on the morning of departure. According to the headnote, it was composed as a travel poem.
The author, "Regent and Chancellor," is Fujiwara no Yoshitsune. A son of Regent Kujō Kanezane, he rose to Regent and Chancellor and wrote the kana preface to the Shin Kokin Wakashū. He is also called Kujō Yoshitsune.
The scene is a moment on the road when he recalls the morning of departure, far from the capital.
The direct occasion is composing on the topic of "travel."

The first line, "morotomo ni," means "together." It shows that he left the capital together with the dawn moon of the last line.
The second line, "ideshi sora koso," means "the sky under which I set out." Like "nakunaku ideshi" in 934, the past "shi" looks back to the moment of departure.
The third line, "wasurarene," means "I cannot forget." The particle "koso" is answered by the negative "zu" in its realis form "ne," and the poem breaks after this third line.
The fourth line, "miyako no yama no," means "of the hills around the capital." It presents the scene of the capital seen on the morning of departure.
The last line, "ariake no tsuki," means "the moon lingering at dawn," ending on a noun. The dawn moon that in 925 tells sleepers on the road that day is near is here the moon that shared the morning he left the capital. Within the sequence on the moon, the mind returns from the moon seen now to the moon at the time of departure.

Author

Fujiwara no Yoshitsune

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other