逢坂の杉間の月のなかりせば
いくきの駒といかで知らまし
いくきの駒といかで知らまし
- Roma-ji
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Ōsaka no sugima no tsuki no nakariseba ikuki no koma to ikade shiramashi
- English Translation
-
At Ōsaka,
were there no moon among the cedars
shining through,
how many horses there were
how could we ever know?
- Meaning
- Were it not for the moonlight shining through the cedars at Ōsaka Barrier, how could we ever know how many horses were coming?
- Commentary
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Book Three Autumn Poems 123
Headnote: "Composed on the welcoming of the horses"
Ōe no Masafusa composed this on the welcoming of the horses, a court ceremony in the eighth month in which horses presented from the provinces were met at the Ōsaka Barrier.
Only because of the moonlight shining between the cedars at night at the barrier can one tell how many horses are being led. The beautiful scene of a line of horses moving through moonlight comes to mind. Poem 102 in this book also sings of the horse welcoming at Ōsaka with the moon, depicting the same ceremony from another angle.
The first line, "Ōsaka no," is the Ōsaka Barrier, the site of the welcoming, and the same word as the third line of 102 in this book.
The second line, "sugima no tsuki no," means "of the moon between the cedars."
The third line, "nakariseba," is a counterfactual condition, "were it not," answered by mashi in the last line.
The fourth line, "ikuki no koma to," means "how many horses," ki being a counter for horses.
The last line, "ikade shiramashi," closes with the counterfactual "how could we have known?"
- Author
- Oe no Masafusa
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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Akikaze ni tsuyu o namida to naku mushi no omou kokoro o tare ni towamashi
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Kiku hito no nado yasukaranu shika no ne wa waga tsuma o koso koite nakurame