Sode ni shimo tsuki kakare to wa chigiri okazu namida wa shiru ya utsu no yamagoe

English Translation

That upon my sleeve
the moon should come to rest, I never
promised, and yet—
do my tears know why it is,
this crossing of Mount Utsu?

Meaning

I never promised that the moon should rest upon my sleeve, yet there it shines; do my tears know the reason, crossing Mount Utsu?

Commentary

Book Ten Travel Poems 983

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the topic 'Traveling a mountain road in autumn' at a contest pairing Chinese poems with Japanese poems."
This is the fourth of a sequence of poems on dreams and sleeves on the road. Though he never pledged that the moon should rest on his sleeve, it shines in his tears, and he asks whether his tears know the hardship of crossing Mount Utsu, the sorrow of an autumn crossing. According to the headnote, it was composed on the topic "Traveling a mountain road in autumn" at a contest pairing Chinese and Japanese poems.
The author, Kamo no Chōmei, was a poet of the early Kamakura period. Born into a family of priests of Shimogamo Shrine, he became a fellow of the Poetry Bureau and later took holy orders and wrote An Account of My Hut.
The scene is an autumn night crossing the mountain, at Mount Utsu in Suruga Province.
The direct occasion is composing on the topic "Traveling a mountain road in autumn" at a contest pairing Chinese poems with Japanese poems.

The first line, "sode ni shimo," means "on my sleeve, of all places." "Shimo" is an intensive particle.
The second line, "tsuki kakare to wa," means "that the moon should rest there." Like "sode no tsukikage" in 935, it sings of the moon reflected in a sleeve wet with tears.
The third line, "chigiri okazu," means "I never pledged." A hypermetric line of six syllables, the poem breaks after it. Where "chigiri okiteshi" in 938 is a promise with the one at home, here the moon rests on the sleeve though no promise was made.
The fourth line, "namida wa shiru ya," means "do my tears know?" "Ya" expresses a question. The tears that wet the sleeve are personified and asked the reason.
The last line, "utsu no yamagoe," means "the crossing of Mount Utsu," ending on a noun. Following the preceding poem on the ivy path of Mount Utsu at evening, this poem sings of tears on a night crossing of the mountain, and the three poems on Mount Utsu are set side by side, moving from the path of dreams to the road to tears.

Author

Kamo no Chomei

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other