大空を照りゆく月し清ければ
雲隠せども光けなくに
雲隠せども光けなくに
- Roma-ji
-
Ōzora o teriyuku tsuki shi kiyokereba kumo kakusedomo hikari kenaku ni
- English Translation
-
Across the wide sky
the moon goes shining on,
so pure and clear
that though the clouds may hide it
its light will never fade.
- Meaning
- The moon that shines across the great sky is so pure that, even if clouds conceal it, its light does not fade.
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 885
Headnote: "Composed in the reign of the Tamura Emperor, when there had been a move to replace Princess Akirakeiko as Kamo Priestess on the grounds of her mother's misconduct, and the matter was dropped"
In the reign of Emperor Montoku, Princess Akirakeiko, serving as Kamo Priestess, was nearly replaced because of alleged misconduct by her mother, but the matter was dropped, and this poem was composed then. The princess is likened to the pure moon and the slander to clouds: though clouds hide it, the pure light does not fade, rejoicing in her innocence and safety.
The author, "Ama Keishin," is a nun whose life is little known, thought to have served in the princess's circle.
Placed at the close of the sequence on the moon, this poem ends it by overlaying the moon's light with a person's virtue.
First line "ōzora o" shows the vast sky where the moon shines, suggesting the princess's nobility.
Second line "teriyuku tsuki shi": shi is emphatic, singling out the moon.
Third line "kiyokereba" gives the reason with ba: because the moon is pure.
Fourth line "kumo kakusedomo" with the adversative domo likens slander and suspicion to clouds.
Fifth line "hikari kenaku ni" joins ke, the irrealis of "fade," with the nominalized negative naku and ni, closing with feeling: its light does not fade.
- Author
- Nun Keishin
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
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Akanaku ni madaki mo tsuki no kakururu ka yama no ha nigete irezu mo aranamu
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Isonokami furukara ono no motogashiwa moto no kokoro wa wasurarenaku ni