ぬばたまの夜霧の立ちておほほしく
照れる月夜の見れば悲しさ
照れる月夜の見れば悲しさ
- Roma-ji
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Nubatama no yogiri no tachite ōhoshiku tereru tsukuyo no mireba kanashisa
- English Translation
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In the jet-black night
the mists of evening rising,
dim and overcast,
the moonlit night that shines so—
when I look, how sad it is
- Meaning
- With the night mist rising, the moonlit night shines dim and hazy, and when I look upon it, how sad it is.
- Commentary
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Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 982
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Three poems on the moon by Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue"
The poem says that looking at the moonlit night, hazy and dim with rising night mist, fills the heart with sadness. In this book, from 980 through 987, eight poems on the moon by different poets are arranged in succession. This is the second of Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue's three moon poems.
In the preceding poem she wondered at the slowness of the moonrise; here the risen moon is veiled by night mist and does not shine clearly. Seeing that faint light presses on the heart directly as sorrow. The charm of the poem lies in laying the heart's gloom not upon a bright moon but upon one blurred by mist.
The poet, Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue, was a daughter of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and a half-sister of Tabito. She was the aunt of her nephew Ōtomo no Yakamochi, and later her daughter, Lady Sakanoue the Elder, became Yakamochi's wife.
The final line, "when I look, how sad it is," forms a pair with the final line of the next poem, 983, "to look on it is a joy." Where this poem finds sadness in a moon hazed by night mist, the next finds joy in the moonlight crossing the plain of heaven, so that within the three moon poems the light and shade of the heart that looks at the moon are reversed.
The first line, "In the jet-black night," contains the pillow word "nubatama no," which modifies "night." Nubatama is the seed of the blackberry lily, and from its blackness the word leads into night and black.
The second line, "the mists of evening rising," means the night mist rising, showing what veils the moonlight.
The third line, "dim and overcast," renders "ōhoshiku," describing something hazy and unclear. It expresses the dimness of the moonlight and also echoes a heart that is not clear.
The fourth line, "the moonlit night that shines so," means "the moonlit night which is shining," pointing to a moon that shines though veiled.
The final line, "when I look, how sad it is," ends on the noun "kanashisa" (sadness). It leaves the movement of the heart at seeing the hazy moon suspended, with lingering resonance.
- Author
- Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
- Source
- Manyoshu
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