山の端に月すむまじと知られにき
心の空になると見しより
心の空になると見しより
- Roma-ji
-
Yama no ha ni tsuki sumu maji to shirareniki kokoro no sora ni naru to mishi yori
- English Translation
-
On the mountain's rim
the moon would not stay clear, I knew—
it could not dwell there,
from the time I saw my heart
drifting off into the sky.
- Meaning
- I knew the moon would not stay to shine on the mountain's rim, from the moment I saw my heart had drifted off into the sky.
- Commentary
-
Miscellaneous Poems 1085
Headnote: "Reply"
This is the reply of the Prince Hōin Gensei to Saigyō's poem. I knew the moon would not stay to shine on the mountain's rim, he answers, from the time I saw my heart grow restless and drift into the sky.
Likening himself, unable to stay in the mountains, to a moon that will not remain on the ridge, he admits that his heart was stirred toward ascetic travel. Kokoro no sora means being absent-minded and also evokes the sky the moon crosses. The Prince Hōin was Gensei, a son of Retired Emperor Sutoku, who entered Ninnaji and became a Hōin.
First line, “yama no ha ni”: on the mountain's rim, echoing Mount Kōya.
Second line, “tsuki sumu maji to”: sumu pivots on "dwell" and "be clear"; the moon will not stay and shine there.
Third line, “shirareniki”: re is spontaneous, niki perfective and past, "I came to know"; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “kokoro no sora ni”: the heart gone absent, with an echo of the sky the moon crosses.
Fifth line, “naru to mishi yori”: from the time I saw it so, the inversion giving the reason at the end.
- Author
- Gensei
- Source
- Sankashu
- Prev Poem
-
Akugareshi kokoro o michi no shirube nite kumo ni tomonau mi to zo narinuru
- Next Poem
-
Kokoro o ba fukaki momiji no iro ni somete wakarete yuku ya chiru ni naruran