天の戸をおしあけがたの月見れば
憂き人しもぞ恋しかりける
憂き人しもぞ恋しかりける
- Roma-ji
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Ama no to o oshiakegata no tsuki mireba ukihito shimo zo koishikarikeru
- English Translation
-
Heaven's door pushed wide
as the dawn opens the sky,
when I see the moon,
it is the cold one, of all,
for whom I find I am longing.
- Meaning
- When I see the moon at dawn, as though the door of heaven were being pushed open, it is, of all people, the one who is cold to me that I find myself longing for.
- Commentary
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Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1260
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the fifth poem of the sequence of love poems on the moon. Seeing the dawn moon, as if heaven's door were pushed open, the speaker says, I find myself longing for the very one who is cold to me. As with the preceding poem, the headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances are not recorded.
The author is given as "Anonymous," and the name has not come down to us.
The first line, "ama no to o," is the gate or door of heaven; the coming of day is imagined as the opening of heaven's door.
In the second line, "oshiakegata no," "ake" is a pivot word meaning both "pushing open" heaven's door and "akegata," dawn.
The third line, "tsuki mireba," means "when I see the moon still lingering at dawn."
The fourth line, "ukihito shimo zo," means "the cold one, of all people." "Shimo" is emphatic: none other than the unkind one. "Zo" is answered by "keru" in the last line.
The last line, "koishikarikeru," means "I find I long for." The dawn moon is a scene that recalls lovers' partings, and the poem sets beside it the contradiction of longing for someone who is unkind. The pairing of moon and longing continues into "tsuki o koishi to" in the next poem.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Sarashina no yama yori hoka ni teru tsuki mo nagusamekanetsu kono koro no sora
- Next Poem
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Honomieshi tsuki o koishi to kaerusa no kumoji no nami ni nurete koshi kana