暮れの秋ことにさやけき月影は
十夜に余りてみよとなりけり
十夜に余りてみよとなりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Kure no aki koto ni sayakeki tsukikage wa toyo ni amarite miyo to narikeri
- English Translation
-
As autumn wanes,
the moonlight, so bright and clear
beyond all others,
ten nights and three more over,
says to us, "Look," this night
- Meaning
- The moonlight of waning autumn, clear and bright beyond all others, falls on the thirteenth night, ten nights and three more, telling us, "Look!"
- Commentary
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Book Eighteen Miscellaneous Poems III 1189
Headnote: "Composed on the thirteenth night of the ninth month"
This poem was composed on the thirteenth night of the ninth month. The especially clear moon of late autumn, ten nights and three more, says "look," he says. The thirteenth night of the ninth month, like the fifteenth night of the eighth, was a night for admiring the moon. Calling the thirteenth night "ten nights and three over," and playing on "miyo," three nights, and "miyo," look, he delights in the idea that the moon is telling us to look at it this very night, and therein lies the wit of the humorous poem.
The author, "Kamo no Masahira," was a priest of the Kamo shrine.
It is the tenth of the humorous poems, singing of the late autumn moon and closing the seasonal poems. From the next poem the series turns to love.
First line, "kure no aki": "waning autumn," late autumn, meaning the ninth month.
Second line, "koto ni sayakeki": "koto ni" means especially, and "sayakeki" clear and bright.
Third line, "tsukikage wa": "tsukikage" is moonlight.
Fourth line, "toyo ni amarite": "ten nights and more over," which with "miyo" in the fifth line makes the thirteenth night.
Fifth line, "miyo to narikeri": "miyo" plays on three nights and on the imperative "look." "Keri" is an exclamatory auxiliary expressing a realization.
- Author
- Kamo no Masahira
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Ochiniki to kataraba katare ominaeshi koyoi wa hana no kage ni yadoran
- Next Poem
-
Itabisashi sasu ya kayaya no shigure koso oto shi otosenu kata wa wakunare