山深み槙の葉分くる月影は
はげしきものの凄きなりけり
はげしきものの凄きなりけり
- Roma-ji
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Yama fukami maki no ha wakuru tsukikage wa hageshiki mono no sugoki narikeri
- English Translation
-
The mountains so deep,
the moonlight that makes its way
through the maki leaves—
it is a thing fierce and sharp,
chilling in its loneliness.
- Meaning
- Deep in the mountains, the moonlight that pierces through the leaves of the maki trees is fierce and sharp, chilling in its loneliness.
- Commentary
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Miscellaneous Poems 1199
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Sent from Kōya to the lay monk Jakunen when he was living in Ōhara"
The second of the ten. Deep in the mountains, the moonlight piercing the thick maki leaves is sharp and fierce, chilling in its loneliness.
Seeing the mountain moon not as graceful but as stern and eerie conveys the true feeling of one who lives in the mountains. In Jakunen's 1209 the moon of Ōhara shines clear in a spring, the eerie moon of Kōya set against the clear moon of Ōhara.
First line, “yama fukami”: since the mountains are deep, shared by the series.
Second line, “maki no ha wakuru”: parting the leaves of the maki, a general name for fine evergreens such as cedar and cypress.
Third line, “tsukikage wa”: the moonlight.
Fourth line, “hageshiki mono no”: a fierce, sharp thing.
Fifth line, “sugoki narikeri”: sugoshi is chillingly lonely; keri marks realization.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
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Yama fukami mado no tsurezure tou mono wa irozukisomuru haji no tachieda