ながめても六十路の秋は過ぎにけり
思へば悲し山の端の月
思へば悲し山の端の月
- Roma-ji
-
Nagamete mo musoji no aki wa suginikeri omoeba kanashi yama no ha no tsuki
- English Translation
-
Though I gazed at it,
sixty autumns of my life
have all passed me by—
when I think of it, how sad,
the moon on the mountain rim.
- Meaning
- Though I spent them gazing at the moon, sixty autumns have passed—when I think of it, how sad it is, the moon on the mountain rim.
- Commentary
-
Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1540
Headnote: "When I presented a hundred-poem sequence."
This is the tenth poem of the sequence reflecting on oneself through the moon. Though he spent them gazing at the moon, sixty autumns have passed, and the moon about to set on the mountain rim seems sad to him. According to the headnote, it was composed when he presented a hundred-poem sequence to Retired Emperor Go-Toba.
The author, "Fujiwara no Takanobu Ason," was the son of Fujiwara no Tametsune. His mother was Bifukumon'in no Kaga, and he was known as a master of likeness portraits.
The first line, "nagamete mo," means "though I spent them gazing at the moon."
In the second line, "musoji no aki wa," "musoji" means the age of sixty. Taking up "isoji" of the preceding poem, it shows a self ten more years along.
The third line, "suginikeri," declares, "they have passed," and the poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "omoeba kanashi," means "when I think of it, it is sad." Whereas the preceding poem resolved not to lament the darkness of delusion, this one frankly states its sorrow.
The last line, "yama no ha no tsuki," ends on a noun. It overlays on the moon about to set on the mountain rim his own remaining life, now short.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Takanobu
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Aki o hete tsuki o nagamuru mi to nareri isoji no yami o nani nagekuran
- Next Poem
-
Kokoro aru hito nomi aki no tsuki o miba nani o ukimi no omoide ni sen