山の端を出でがてにする月待つと
寝ぬ夜のいたく更けにけるかな
寝ぬ夜のいたく更けにけるかな
- Roma-ji
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Yama no ha o idegate ni suru tsuki matsu to nenu yo no itaku fukenikeru kana
- English Translation
-
The moon, so reluctant
to come forth over the rim
of the hills—waiting,
the night that I lie sleepless
has grown late indeed, alas.
- Meaning
- Waiting for the moon so reluctant to rise over the mountain rim, I have lain sleepless, and the night has grown very late.
- Commentary
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Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1501
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the third poem of the sequence on the moon. Waiting for the moon that is slow to rise over the mountain rim, the poet stays awake until the night grows very late. The headnote reads "topic unknown," and records nothing of the circumstances of composition.
The author, "Fujiwara no Tametoki," was the son of Fujiwara no Masatada and the father of Murasaki Shikibu. Accomplished in Chinese poetry and prose, he served as Governor of Echizen and of Echigo.
The first line, "yama no ha o," presents the mountain ridge from which the moon rises. From the mountain rim behind which the moon disappeared in the preceding poem, it turns to the side of waiting for the moon to rise.
In the second line, "idegate ni suru," "gate ni" means "hard to do," so the phrase means "seeming reluctant to come out."
The third line, "tsuki matsu to," means "because I wait for the moon." Whereas the two preceding poems sang of a moon that hides, this poem sings of a moon not yet risen, forming a contrast.
The fourth line, "nenu yo no itaku," means "the night that I stay awake has, very much."
The last line, "fukenikeru kana," adds the exclamatory "kana" to the perfective "ni" and the past "keru." It shows the lament that the night has grown late while he waited for the moon.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Tametoki
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Tsukikage no yama no ha wakete kakurenaba somuku ukiyo o ware ya nagamen
- Next Poem
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Ukigumo wa tachikakusedomo hima morite sora yuku tsuki no mie mo suru kana