Tsuki no yuku yama ni kokoro o okuriirete yami naru ato no mi o ika ni semu - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

月の行く山に心を送り入れて
闇なる後の身をいかにせむ

Roma-ji: Tsuki no yuku yama ni kokoro o okuriirete yami naru ato no mi o ika ni semu
English Translation: Into the mountain
where the moon is going down
I have sent my heart;
what now of this self, left
behind in the darkness there?
Meaning: I have sent my heart into the mountain where the moon is setting; what am I to do with this self, left behind in the dark?
Commentary: Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1781

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the first of the poems on the heart through the moon, and the second of two by Saigyō. Having sent his heart into the mountain where the moon sets, what is he to do with the self left in the dark? He entrusts to the mountain into which the moon sinks the state of a heart that leaves the body out of longing for the moon.
The author, "Saigyō Hōshi," is Saigyō. His lay name was Satō Norikiyo; he served Retired Emperor Toba as a guard of the Northern Quarters but took vows while young. He traveled the provinces composing poems, and his personal collection is the Sankashū. No author is named in the original; the attribution continues from the preceding poem.

The first line, "tsuki no yuku," means "where the moon goes down." From here poems on the moon continue.
The second line, "yama ni kokoro o," means "my heart into the mountain where the moon sets."
The third line, "okuriirete," means "sending it in." With six syllables, one over the norm, it shows the heart going into the mountain with the moon.
The fourth line, "yami naru ato no," means "after the moon has set and darkness fallen." It also suggests the emptiness left when the heart has gone.
The last line, "mi o ika ni semu," means "what shall I do with this self?" The grief of heart and body parting is pictured as a self left in the dark after moonset.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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