有明の月ばかりこそ通ひけれ
来る人なしの宿の庭にも
来る人なしの宿の庭にも
- Roma-ji
-
Ariake no tsuki bakari koso kayoikere kuru hito nashi no yado no niwa ni mo
- English Translation
-
It is the moon alone,
the moon that lingers at dawn,
that comes here to call—
even to the garden of
a house where no one comes.
- Meaning
- Only the moon lingering at dawn comes calling, even to the garden of a house where no one comes.
- Commentary
-
Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1528
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the eighth poem of the sequence on the moon lingering at dawn. Even to the garden of a house where no one comes, the poet says, the dawn moon alone comes calling. The headnote continues from the preceding poem, "topic unknown," and records nothing of the circumstances of composition.
The author, "Ise no Taifu," was the daughter of Ōnakatomi no Sukechika. A lady-in-waiting and poet who served Jōtōmon'in, she is known for her poem "Inishie no Nara no miyako no yaezakura."
The first line, "ariake no," presents the moon remaining at dawn.
In the second line, "tsuki bakari koso," "koso" is a binding particle, closed by "kere" in the third line. It singles out the moon alone.
The third line, "kayoikere," closes the kakari-musubi of the particle "koso" with the perfective form "kere." No person comes, but the moon alone visits, and the poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "kuru hito nashi no," means "where no one comes." The "one I knew" of the preceding poem here becomes one who does not visit.
The last line, "yado no niwa ni mo," is inverted, placing at the end the place the moon visits. The dawn moon alone visits a lonely house where no one comes, linking to the next poem's moon over a house without a human shadow.
- Author
- Ise no Taifu
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
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Akatsuki no tsuki min to shimo omowanedo mishi hito yue ni nagameraretsutsu
- Next Poem
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Suminareshi hitokage mo senu waga yado ni ariake no tsuki no ikuyo to mo naku