秋の夜の心を尽くすはじめとて
ほのかに見ゆる夕月夜かな
ほのかに見ゆる夕月夜かな
- Roma-ji
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Aki no yo no kokoro o tsukusu hajime tote honoka ni miyuru yūzukuyo kana
- English Translation
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As the beginning
of the autumn nights that wring
my heart with longing,
faintly it can now be seen,
the crescent moon of evening
- Meaning
- As if to mark the beginning of autumn nights that wring the heart with longing, the evening moon appears faintly in the sky.
- Commentary
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Book Four Autumn Poems I 274
Headnote: "Composed when composing many poems on the moon"
Composed on an occasion when the poet composed many poems on the moon. As if to say it is the beginning of the autumn nights when one will gaze at the moon and exhaust one's heart in longing, the evening moon appears faintly in the sky. Foreshadowing the autumn brooding that will deepen as the moon waxes, this poem begins a run of moon poems.
The author, "Provisional Major Counselor Saneie," is Fujiwara no Saneie, son of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Kinyoshi, who rose to Provisional Major Counselor. His elder brother was Minister of the Left Fujiwara no Sanesada.
It draws on an anonymous poem in the Kokin Wakashū, "When I see the moonlight leaking through the trees, I know that autumn, which wears out the heart, has come," seeing in the evening moon the start of that heart-wearying autumn. From this poem to the end of the book at 301, poems on the moon follow one another, and this one stands at their head.
First line, "aki no yo no": "of the autumn nights."
Second line, "kokoro o tsukusu": "exhausting the heart in brooding," drawing on "kokorozukushi no aki" of the Kokin poem.
Third line, "hajime tote": "as the beginning," a fitting phrase for the start of the sequence of moon poems.
Fourth line, "honoka ni miyuru": "faintly seen," the light of a still slender evening moon.
Fifth line, "yūzukuyo kana": "yūzukuyo" is the moon seen in the evening, or a night with such a moon, and "kana" is exclamatory.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Saneie
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Tokiwa naru aoba no yama mo aki kureba iro koso kaene sabishikarikeri
- Next Poem
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Aki no tsuki takane no kumo no anata nite hareyuku sora no kururu machikeri