神路山月さやかなる誓ひありて
天の下をば照らすなりけり
天の下をば照らすなりけり
- Roma-ji
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Kamijiyama tsuki sayaka naru chikai arite ame no shita o ba terasu narikeri
- English Translation
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On Kamiji Mountain
the moon shines out, bright and clear—
so there is a vow
by which, beneath all heaven,
the whole land is given light.
- Meaning
- Just as the moon shines clear over Mount Kamiji, there is a clear divine vow, and by it all the land beneath heaven is illumined.
- Commentary
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Book Nineteen Poems on the Gods 1878
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the eighth poem in the sequence concerning the Great Shrine of Ise. There is a vow as clear as the moon shining over Mount Kamiji, it says, and by it the god illumines all beneath heaven. Like the preceding poem it is "Topic unknown," and no circumstances are recorded. Laying the god's vow over the moonlight, it praises the grace that reaches everywhere under heaven.
No author is named in the original, and the poem is treated as continuing from the author of the preceding poem, Saigyō.
The first line, "Kamijiyama," is the mountain south of the Inner Shrine at Ise, set here as the emblem of the sacred precinct. It takes up "Kamiji no yama" in poem 1875 of this book.
The second line, "tsuki sayaka naru," means "where the moon shines clear." The brightness of the moon describes the clarity of the "vow" in the third line.
The third line, "chikai arite," means "there being a vow." It runs to six syllables, one beyond the norm. The god's vow to save all people is overlaid with the moonlight.
The fourth line, "ame no shita o ba," means "all beneath heaven." "O ba," the particle "o" joined with "wa," strongly marks what is illumined.
The last line, "terasu narikeri," means "so it is that it shines upon it." The copula "nari" with the exclamatory "keri" conveys the emotion of realization. After "hi no mikage," the sun's light, in the preceding poem, this poem tells of moonlight, so that the light of sun and moon stand side by side. The next poem also tells of the moon.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Miyabashira shitatsu iwane ni shikitatete tsuyu mo kumoranu hi no mikage kana
- Next Poem
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Sayaka naru Washi no takane no kumoi yori kage yawaraguru Tsukiyomi no mori