難波江の葦間に宿る月見れば
我が身一つも沈まざりけり
我が身一つも沈まざりけり
- Roma-ji
-
Naniwae no ashima ni yadoru tsuki mireba waga mi hitotsu mo shizumazarikeri
- English Translation
-
When I see the moon
lodged among the reeds that grow
in Naniwa Inlet,
I find it is not I alone
who has sunk so very low
- Meaning
- Seeing the moon lodged in the water among the reeds of Naniwa Inlet, I realize that I am not the only one who has sunk.
- Commentary
-
Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 347
Seeing the moon reflected as if sunk in the water among the reeds of Naniwa Inlet, the poet realizes he is not the only one who has sunk into obscurity. Overlaying the sunken moon with his own stalled fortunes, he turns a lament into a small consolation.
This poem by the compiler Akisuke closes the first book of miscellaneous poems. Where the opening poem, 272, sang of haze at Mishima Inlet in Settsu, the book ends with the moon at Naniwa Inlet in the same province, so that its beginning and end answer each other at famous waterside places.
The first line, "Naniwae no," names Naniwa Inlet, a poetic place in Settsu Province. Poem 286 of this book begins with the same line.
The second line, "ashima ni yadoru," refers to the moon reflected on the water among the reeds.
The third line, "tsuki mireba," is a conditional of certainty: when I see the moon.
The fourth line, "waga mi hitotsu mo" (I alone), names the speaker's own self.
The final line, "shizumazarikeri," combines the negative "zu" and exclamatory "keri," ending with the realization that he alone has not sunk. "Shizumu" overlays the moon sinking in the water with sinking into misfortune.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Akisuke
- Source
- Shika Wakashu
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