月冴ゆる御裳濯川の底清み
いづれの代にかすみはじめけむ
いづれの代にかすみはじめけむ
- Roma-ji
-
Tsuki sayuru Mimosusogawa no soko kiyomi izure no yo ni ka sumihajimekemu
- English Translation
-
In the cold moonlight
the river Mimosuso
is clear to its bed;
in what age, I wonder, did it
first begin to run so pure?
- Meaning
- In the cold, clear moonlight, the Mimosuso River is pure to its very bed; in what age, I wonder, did it first become so clear and the god first come to dwell here?
- Commentary
-
Miscellaneous Poems 616
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Among poems on the gods"
Seeing the moonlight clear upon the Mimosuso River at Ise and the water pure to its bed, the poet wonders in what age it first grew so clear and the god first came to dwell there, thinking back to the endless past.
The Ruijū text places it in its section on the gods.
Line 1 means "where the moon is cold and clear," taking up the dawn moon of the preceding poem as the moon of Ise.
Line 2 names the Mimosuso River, the Isuzu flowing past the Inner Shrine of Ise.
Line 3 means "since the bed is clear," mi expressing cause.
Line 4 means "in what age?" ka an interrogative binding particle concluded by kemu in line 5.
Line 5 means "did it begin to be clear?" sumi meaning both the water "clearing" and the god "dwelling"; kemu is past conjecture.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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