草枕この旅寝にぞ思ひ知る
月よりほかの友なかりけり
月よりほかの友なかりけり
- Roma-ji
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Kusamakura kono tabine ni zo omoishiru tsuki yori hoka no tomo nakarikeri
- English Translation
-
With grass for pillow,
on this journey's lonely sleep
I have come to know:
save for the moon in the sky
there is no friend beside me
- Meaning
- Sleeping on this journey with grass for my pillow, I have learned it to the core: apart from the moon, I have no friend at all.
- Commentary
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Book Three Autumn Poems 176
Sleeping alone on a journey, the poet realizes to the core that only the moon in the sky keeps him company as a friend. The loneliness of travel and his affection for the moon that comforts it are plainly expressed.
The moon over a traveler's sleep also appears in poems 179 and 211 in this book, where again the moon consoles the loneliness of travel.
From poem 174 through poem 217 in this book a long sequence of moon poems follows, from the evening moon through the bright moon of the fifteenth night of the Eighth Month to the moon at dawn, singing of the moon in all its aspects and of the heart that gazes on it.
First line, 'kusamakura', a grass pillow, is a pillow word for travel, here leading to 'traveler's sleep'.
Second line, 'kono tabine ni zo', means on this journey's sleep, and zo binds with the attributive shiru in the third line.
Third line, 'omoishiru', means to learn deeply. The poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, 'tsuki yori hoka no', means other than the moon, showing that the moon alone is a friend.
Final line, 'tomo nakarikeri', means there was no friend, the exclamatory keri expressing realization.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Kaze fukeba eda yasukaranu ko no ma yori honomeku aki no yūzukuyo kana
- Next Poem
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Morotomo ni kusaba no tsuyu no okiizu wa hitori ya mimashi aki no yo no tsuki