さ夜更けて雲間の月の影見れば
袖に知られぬ霜ぞ置きける
袖に知られぬ霜ぞ置きける
- Roma-ji
-
Sayo fukete kumoma no tsuki no kage mireba sode ni shirarenu shimo zo okikeru
- English Translation
-
Late in the night
when I gaze upon the moonlight
between the clouds,
a frost my sleeves cannot feel
has settled all around.
- Meaning
- As the night grows late and I look upon the moonlight streaming between the clouds, a frost has settled that my sleeves cannot feel.
- Commentary
-
Winter Poems 342
Headnote: "Composed on seeing the moon late at night"
This poem was composed on seeing the moon late at night. Gazing at the moonlight between the clouds, the poet finds everything white as if frost had settled, yet it is a frost his sleeves cannot feel. He likens the moonlight to frost and adds the wit of a frost that is not cold to the touch.
Kamo no Mabuchi commented that the phrasing "unfelt by my sleeves" in line 4 is in a later style.
Line 1: sa is a prefix, "as the night grows late."
Line 2 is the moon seen through a gap in the clouds.
Line 3 means "when I look upon its light."
Line 4 means "not known to my sleeves," revealing the conceit: real frost would chill the sleeves.
Line 5 concludes the binding particle zo with keru, the attributive of keri. The conceit of moonlight as frost leads into the theme of the next poem, "moonlight resembling frost."
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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