世間は空しきものとあらむとぞ
この照る月は満ち欠けしける
この照る月は満ち欠けしける
- Roma-ji
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Yo no naka wa munashiki mono to aramu to zo kono teru tsuki wa michikake shikeru
- English Translation
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That this world of ours
is a thing empty and vain—
to show it, it seems,
this moon that shines above us
waxes and then wanes again.
- Meaning
- It is to show that this world is empty and vain that the shining moon waxes and wanes.
- Commentary
-
Book Three Elegies 442
Headnote: "A poem mourning Prince Kashiwade"
This mourns Prince Kashiwade, who took his own life together with his father in the Nagaya Incident. The shining moon waxes and wanes in order to show that the world is empty, the poet says, seeing in the moon's phases the impermanence of human life. After the preceding poem mourning Prince Nagaya, a poem grieving for his son follows. Prince Kashiwade was a son of Prince Nagaya and Princess Kibi. A left note says the author is unknown, so the author cannot be fixed.
First line "That this world of ours" refers to the impermanent world.
Second line "is a thing empty and vain" states that it is hollow.
Third line "to show it, it seems": mu expresses intention and zo is a binding particle concluded by keru at the end.
Fourth line "this moon that shines above us" means the moon shining now.
Fifth line "waxes and then wanes again" ends by seeing impermanence in the moon's phases.
- Source
- Manyoshu
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