月を見て心浮かれしいにしへの
秋にもさらにめぐり逢ひぬる
秋にもさらにめぐり逢ひぬる
- Roma-ji
-
Tsuki o mite kokoro ukareshi inishie no aki ni mo sara ni meguriainuru
- English Translation
-
Gazing at the moon,
my heart went wandering off
in that long-ago
autumn—and now, once again,
I have come round to meet it.
- Meaning
- I have come round once more to that autumn long ago when, gazing at the moon, my heart went wandering off.
- Commentary
-
Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1532
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the second poem of the sequence reflecting on oneself through the moon. The poet has met again the autumn of long ago when, gazing at the moon, his heart went wandering. The headnote reads "topic unknown," and records nothing of the circumstances of composition.
The author, "Saigyō Hōshi," had the lay name Satō Norikiyo. He served Retired Emperor Toba as a warrior of the North Guard, but took the tonsure at twenty-three and traveled through the provinces, leaving many poems.
The first line, "tsuki o mite," refers to gazing at the moon.
The second line, "kokoro ukareshi," means "my heart wandered off" or "grew restless," with the past "shi" placing it in the past. It shows the heart drawn away from the body by the moon.
The third line, "inishie no," means "of long ago." It suggests the days of youth before he took the tonsure.
The fourth line, "aki ni mo sara ni," means "to that autumn once again."
The last line, "meguriainuru," closes with the attributive form of the perfective "nu," filled with feeling. Taking up "meguriaite," the third line of the preceding poem, whereas Shunzei met again the autumn in which he had resigned himself to death, here the poet meets again the autumn of his wandering heart, overlaying past and present through the moon.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Omoiki ya wakareshi aki ni meguriaite mata mo kono yo no tsuki o min to wa
- Next Poem
-
Yomosugara tsuki koso sode ni yadorikere mukashi no aki o omoiizureba