今宵かくながむる袖の露けきは
月の霜をや秋と見つらん
月の霜をや秋と見つらん
- Roma-ji
-
Koyoi kaku nagamuru sode no tsuyukeki wa tsuki no shimo o ya aki to mitsuran
- English Translation
-
Tonight, as I gaze
like this, my sleeves are wet
with dew, and why so?
Have they seen the moon's white frost
and taken it for autumn's?
- Meaning
- Tonight, as I gaze at the moon like this, my sleeves are wet with dew—could it be that they saw the frost-white moonlight and took it for autumn?
- Commentary
-
Book Four Summer Poems 214
Headnote: "On a summer night when the moon was lovely."
The poet wonders whether his sleeves, wet with dew as he gazes at the moon tonight, have seen the frost-white moonlight and taken it for autumn. Likening the summer moonlight to autumn frost, he already senses autumn's melancholy.
According to the headnote, it was composed on a summer night when the moon was especially fine.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the author as "yomibito mo," but it is treated here as anonymous.
The first line, "Koyoi kaku," means "tonight, like this," pointing to the lovely moonlit night of the headnote.
The second line, "nagamuru sode no," means "of my sleeves as I gaze at the moon."
The third line, "tsuyukeki wa," means "that they are wet with dew," also suggesting wetness with tears.
The fourth line, "tsuki no shimo o ya," means "the moon's frost," likening the white moonlight to frost. "Ya" is an interrogative particle.
The last line, "aki to mitsuran," means "did they take it for autumn?" with "ran," an auxiliary conjecturing a cause, completing the kakarimusubi pattern with "ya" in the fourth line. Sensing autumn on a summer night, it sings of autumn's approach along with 204 and 208 of this book.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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Kamogawa no minasoko sumite teru tsuki o yukite mimu to ya natsubarae suru