月清み田中に立てる仮庵の
影ばかりこそ曇りなりけれ
影ばかりこそ曇りなりけれ
- Roma-ji
-
Tsuki kiyomi tanaka ni tateru kariio no kage bakari koso kumori narikere
- English Translation
-
The moon is so clear —
the little hut that stands
out amid the fields
casts the only shadow there,
the single cloud in the night
- Meaning
- So clear is the moon that the shadow of the little hut standing in the rice fields is the only cloud in all the night.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 292
On a night when the moon shines clear over the fields, the poet says the only shadow on its brightness is the one cast by a temporary hut in the rice paddies. Contrasting the flood of moonlight with a small shadow, the poem vividly conveys the brightness of a clear moonlit night.
The author, Retired Emperor Sutoku, is the emperor who ordered Fujiwara no Akisuke to compile the Shika Wakashu.
The first line, "tsuki kiyomi," adds "mi" to the stem of "kiyoshi" (clear) to mean because the moon is clear.
The second line, "tanaka ni tateru," uses the attributive of the continuative "ri" for something standing in the fields.
The third line, "kariio no," refers to a temporary hut for guarding the fields.
The fourth line, "kage bakari koso" (only its shadow), singles out the shadow with "bakari" and "koso."
The final line, "kumori narikere," closes "koso" with the copula "nari" and perfective of the exclamatory "keri," a kakari-musubi realizing that the shadow is the only cloud.
- Author
- Retired Emperor Sutoku
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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Yo no naka o omoi na iri so Mikasayama sashiizuru tsuki no sumamu kagiri wa
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Suminoboru tsuki no hikari ni sasowarete kumo no ue made yuku kokoro kana