あひにあひて物思ふころの我が袖に
宿る月さへ濡るる顔なる
宿る月さへ濡るる顔なる
- Roma-ji
-
Ai ni aite mono omou koro no waga sode ni yadoru tsuki sae nururu kao naru
- English Translation
-
Just in this season
when I sink in thoughts of love,
upon my own sleeve
even the moon that lodges there
wears a face all wet with tears
- Meaning
- In these days when I am lost in thoughts of love, even the moon that lodges in my tear-soaked sleeve seems to wear a face wet with tears.
- Commentary
-
Book Fifteen Love Poems V 756
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
In a time of brooding over love, the moon reflected in her tear-soaked sleeve seems to wear a weeping face. The moon is personified as a companion to her grief, and the graceful way tears are shown through the moon on her sleeve rather than named has been much admired.
Ise was the daughter of Fujiwara no Tsugukage, Governor of Ise, and served Onshi, empress of Emperor Uda. She bore Uda a prince and later, with Prince Atsuyoshi, bore the poet Nakatsukasa. One of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, she has more poems in the Kokinshū than any other woman.
The first line means "exactly matching," saying that her time of brooding and the moonlit night have coincided. The line is hypermetric.
The second line means "in this time of brooding," mono omou referring to the pains of love.
The third line names her sleeve, the place where the moon lodges in the fourth line. That it is wet with tears becomes clear in the last line.
The fourth line personifies the moon's reflection in her tears as "lodging," and sae adds "even."
The last line says even the moon has a wet face, as if weeping with her. Without mentioning tears, it conveys the depth of her sorrow.
- Author
- Ise
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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