月影は消えぬ氷と見えながら
さざ波寄する志賀の唐崎
さざ波寄する志賀の唐崎
- Roma-ji
-
Tsukikage wa kienu kōri to mienagara sazanami yosuru Shiga no Karasaki
- English Translation
-
Though the moonlight seems
to be ice that never melts
lying on the lake,
still the little ripples lap
at Karasaki in Shiga
- Meaning
- The moonlight looks like ice that will never melt, yet little ripples still lap the shore at Karasaki in Shiga.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Autumn Poems I 294
Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'The Moon over the Lake'"
Composed on the topic "The Moon over the Lake." The moonlight on the lake looks like ice that will never melt, yet little ripples still lap the shore at Karasaki in Shiga. Contrasting the still light that looks like ice with the motion of the waves, the poem portrays the strange beauty of a moon over a lake that seems frozen yet is not.
The author, "Fujiwara no Akiie Ason," was the son of Fujiwara no Shigeie, Assistant Governor-General of Dazaifu, and a poet of the Rokujō Fujiwara house.
The "musubanu kōri" of the preceding poem, 293, and this poem's "kienu kōri" form a pair of reversed likenings, ice that never forms and ice that never melts. Poem 289 of this book also sees the waves of Shiga's bay as ice in the moonlight, answering this poem.
First line, "tsukikage wa": "the moonlight."
Second line, "kienu kōri to": "as ice that does not melt away," pairing with "musubanu kōri" in the preceding poem, 293.
Third line, "mienagara": "nagara" is concessive, "though it looks so," leading to the contrast of ice and lapping waves.
Fourth line, "sazanami yosuru": "sazanami" are small ripples, a word also used to lead into Shiga.
Fifth line, "Shiga no Karasaki": ends on a noun, a cape on the western shore of Lake Biwa. Following "Shiga no uranami" in 289 of this book, it sings of the moon at Shiga.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Akiie
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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Ishima yuku Mitarashigawa no oto saete tsuki ya musubanu kōri naruran
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Teru tsuki no kage saenureba asajihara yuki no shita ni mo mushi wa nakikeri