こととなく君恋ひわたる橋の上に
争ふものは月の影のみ
争ふものは月の影のみ
- Roma-ji
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Koto to naku kimi koiwataru hashi no ue ni arasou mono wa tsuki no kage nomi
- English Translation
-
For no reason else,
on the bridge where I go on
longing for you still,
the one that vies with my heart
is the moonlight, nothing more.
- Meaning
- On the bridge I cross, longing for you without cease, the only thing that vies with my longing is the light of the moon.
- Commentary
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Miscellaneous Poems 1157
Headnote: "On the bridge at the Inner Sanctuary of Kōya, when the moon was bright, I gazed at it with Saijū until dawn. Around that time the holy man Saijū went to the capital, and unable to forget that night's moon, when the moon was bright again over the same bridge I sent this to him"
On a bright night Saigyō and the holy man Saijū had watched the moon until dawn from the bridge at the Inner Sanctuary of Mount Kōya. Saijū then left for the capital, and unable to forget that night, when the moon was again bright over the bridge, Saigyō sent him this: on the bridge he crosses, longing for his friend without cease, the only thing that vies with his longing is the moonlight.
Koiwataru, "to go on longing," pivots with crossing the bridge, and the image of his longing and the moon's light contending sets the friend's absence against the moon's brightness. It pairs with Saijū's reply in 1158.
First line, “koto to naku”: without any particular occasion, single-mindedly.
Second line, “kimi koiwataru”: wataru pivots on "going on longing" and "crossing" the bridge.
Third line, “hashi no ue ni”: on the bridge before the Inner Sanctuary.
Fourth line, “arasou mono wa”: what contends with my longing.
Fifth line, “tsuki no kage nomi”: only the moonlight, ending on a noun to leave the moon shining on a bridge without his friend.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
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Omoe tada miyako nite dani sode saeshi hira no takane no yuki no keshiki o
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Omoiyaru kokoro wa miete hashi no ue ni arasoikeri na tsuki no kage nomi