逢坂の関の杉原下晴れて
月のもるにぞまかせたりける
月のもるにぞまかせたりける
- Roma-ji
-
Ōsaka no seki no sugihara shita harete tsuki no moru ni zo makasetarikeru
- English Translation
-
The cedar grove at
the barrier of Ōsaka
is bright beneath its boughs —
its guarding has been left
to the moonlight stealing through
- Meaning
- The cedar grove at Ōsaka Barrier is bright down to its floor; the guarding of the barrier, it seems, has been left to the moonlight stealing through.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 307
Moonlight shines brightly down beneath the cedars at Ōsaka Barrier, as if even the task of guarding the barrier had been left to the moonlight stealing in. Playing "moru" as both moonlight leaking through and guarding the barrier, the poem wittily conveys the brightness of a barrier at night with no one about.
Like "shita harete" in poem 295 of this book, it sings of a moon that lights the ground beneath the trees, and it also shares the words "tsuki no moru" with poem 294.
The first line, "Ōsaka no," names Ōsaka Barrier on the border of Yamashiro and Ōmi Provinces, a poetic place.
The second line, "seki no sugihara," refers to the cedar grove at the barrier.
The third line, "shita harete," means bright beneath the cedars with moonlight.
The fourth line, "tsuki no moru ni zo," is a pivot word joining moonlight "leaking" through with "guarding" the barrier, singled out with "zo."
The final line, "makasetarikeru," closes "zo" with the continuative "tari" and attributive exclamatory "keri," a kakari-musubi meaning it had been entrusted to the moon.
- Author
- Oe no Masafusa
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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Nagaraeba omoide ni semu omoiideyo kimi to Mikasa no yama no ha no tsuki
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Tsurezure to aretaru yado o nagamureba tsuki bakari koso mukashi narikere