春霞たなびきにけり久方の
月の桂も花や咲くらむ
月の桂も花や咲くらむ
- Roma-ji
-
Harugasumi tanabiki ni keri hisakata no tsuki no katsura mo hana ya saku ramu
- English Translation
-
The haze of springtime
has come trailing over all;
in the far heavens
might the laurel of the moon
also be breaking into bloom?
- Meaning
- Spring haze trails across the land. Is the laurel tree in the moon also coming into bloom?
- Commentary
-
Book One Spring Poems I 18
Headnote: "Presented when the emperor called for poems in the Engi era."
Seeing the spring haze trailing, the poet wonders whether the laurel tree in the hazy moon is also flowering, extending his imagination to the heavens. The poem is marked by a grand yet graceful idea that shifts the gaze from spring on earth to spring in the world of the moon.
According to the headnote, it was presented at the request of Emperor Daigo in the Engi era.
The poet, Ki no Tsurayuki, was a son of Ki no Mochiyuki. He was the leading compiler of the Kokin Wakashū and wrote its kana preface. He served as governor of Tosa, is known as the author of the Tosa Diary, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
The first line, "The haze of springtime," presents the haze that heralds spring.
In the second line, "keri" is exclamatory, expressing his response on noticing that the haze has spread over everything. The poem pauses here.
The third line, "hisakata no," is a pillow word for "moon."
The fourth line, "the laurel of the moon," refers to the laurel said in Chinese legend to grow in the moon. The particle "mo," meaning "also," widens the scene from the trees on earth to the moon's laurel.
In the last line, "ya" is an interrogative particle forming a kakarimusubi pattern with the attributive "ramu." "Ramu" is a present conjecture, imagining that the laurel may be blooming at this moment.
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Yado chikaku utsushite ueshi kai mo naku machidō ni nomi niou hana kana
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Izuko to mo haru no hikari wa wakanaku ni mada Miyoshino no yama wa yuki furu