秋を経て月をながむる身となれり
五十路の闇を何嘆くらん
五十路の闇を何嘆くらん
- Roma-ji
-
Aki o hete tsuki o nagamuru mi to nareri isoji no yami o nani nagekuran
- English Translation
-
Through many autumns
I have come to be one who
gazes on the moon—
why, then, should I still lament
the darkness of fifty years?
- Meaning
- Through many autumns I have become one who gazes upon the moon—why, then, should I grieve over the darkness of my fifty years?
- Commentary
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Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1539
Headnote: "When a fifty-poem sequence was called for."
This is the ninth poem of the sequence reflecting on oneself through the moon. Having become, through many autumns, one who gazes on the moon, the poet asks why he should grieve over the darkness of fifty years of delusion. According to the headnote, it was composed when Retired Emperor Go-Toba called for a fifty-poem sequence.
The author, "Former Archbishop Jien," was the son of Fujiwara no Tadamichi and younger brother of Kujō Kanezane. He served four times as head of the Tendai school and wrote the historical treatise Gukanshō.
In Buddhism, enlightenment is likened to the bright, clear moon, and delusion to darkness.
The first line, "aki o hete," means "having passed many autumns." It takes up "toshi no tsumorinuru" of the preceding poem.
The second line, "tsuki o nagamuru," refers to gazing at the moon, overlaying the clear moon with the state of enlightenment.
The third line, "mi to nareri," uses the continuative "ri," meaning "I have become such a one." The poem breaks after the third line.
In the fourth line, "isoji no yami o," "isoji" means the age of fifty. It likens fifty years of delusion to darkness, pairing with the brightness of the moon in the second line.
The last line, "nani nagekuran," uses the rhetorical "nani" and the present conjectural "ran," meaning "why should I lament?" Whereas the preceding poem lamented the years piling up in a sorrowful world, this poem says that now, having become one who gazes on the moon, he need not lament the darkness of delusion, turning age into enlightenment.
- Author
- Jien
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Aki no yo no tsuki ni kokoro o nagusamete ukiyo ni toshi no tsumorinuru kana
- Next Poem
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Nagamete mo musoji no aki wa suginikeri omoeba kanashi yama no ha no tsuki