入る方はさやかなりける月影を
うはのそらにも待ちし宵かな
うはのそらにも待ちし宵かな
- Roma-ji
-
Iru kata wa sayaka narikeru tsukikage o uwa no sora ni mo machishi yoi kana
- English Translation
-
The moon's setting place
was so clear to see, and yet
all that evening long
high in the sky, my heart adrift,
I waited for its light.
- Meaning
- Where the moonlight would set was plain to see, yet all that evening I waited for it, gazing absently at the sky above.
- Commentary
-
Book Fourteen Love Poems IV 1262
Headnote: "Sent to someone."
This is the seventh poem of the sequence of love poems on the moon. It was an evening, the speaker says, when I waited absently for a moon whose setting place was already plain. According to the headnote, it was sent to a certain person.
The author, "Murasaki Shikibu," was a daughter of Fujiwara no Tametoki, Governor of Echizen, and became the wife of Fujiwara no Nobutaka. She later served Empress Shōshi, consort of Emperor Ichijō, and wrote The Tale of Genji.
The recipient answers in the next poem, 1263.
The first line, "iru kata wa," means "the direction in which the moon sets." It refers to the destination of the person likened to the moon.
The second line, "sayaka narikeru," means "was plain to see." "Keru" marks realization, conveying that it became clear only afterward that his destination lay elsewhere.
The third line, "tsukikage o," is the moonlight, the figure of the moon.
In the fourth line, "uwa no sora ni mo," "uwa no sora" is a pivot word meaning both "the sky above" where the moon floats and "absent-mindedly."
The last line, "machishi yoi kana," means "it was an evening of waiting." Looking back on herself waiting in vain for a moon whose course was already set, she reproaches the other's change of heart with a touch of irony, through the image of the moon.
- Author
- Murasaki Shikibu
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Honomieshi tsuki o koishi to kaerusa no kumoji no nami ni nurete koshi kana
- Next Poem
-
Sashite yuku yama no ha mo mina kakikumori kokoro no sora ni kieshi tsukikage