Aki wa nao ko no shitakage mo kurakariki tsuki wa fuyu koso mirubekarikere - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

秋はなほ木の下陰も暗かりき
月は冬こそ見るべかりけれ

Roma-ji: Aki wa nao ko no shitakage mo kurakariki tsuki wa fuyu koso mirubekarikere
English Translation: In autumn, after all,
beneath the trees the shade was
too dark to see;
it is in winter that the moon
is truly meant to be beheld.
Meaning: In autumn, after all, even the shade beneath the trees was dark; the moon, it turns out, is best viewed in winter.
Commentary: Book Four Winter Poems 148

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
In autumn the foliage was thick and the moonlight never reached beneath the trees, but now that the leaves have fallen, winter proves the season to view the moon. The charm lies in overturning the convention that the moon belongs to autumn.
After the run of fallen-leaf poems, the theme turns to the winter moon as a benefit of the bare branches.

First line, “aki wa nao”: “nao,” “after all,” looking back on the autumn just past.
Second line, “ko no shitakage mo”: “even the shade beneath the trees.” Book Three, poem 99, says the autumn moon lights up “ko no shitakage mo”; the same words here reverse light and dark.
Third line, “kurakariki”: the past auxiliary “ki” recalls a season personally experienced; the poem breaks after this line.
Fourth line, “tsuki wa fuyu koso”: “koso” singles out winter and calls for the realis “kere.”
Fifth line, “mirubekarikere”: “bekari” expresses what is fitting and “kere” sudden realization: winter was the time to look. In 150 the moon leaks through the shade of an oak.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shika Wakashu
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