東路をはるかに出づるもちづきの
駒に今宵やあふさかの関
駒に今宵やあふさかの関
- Roma-ji
-
Azumaji o haruka ni izuru mochizuki no koma ni koyoi ya ausaka no seki
- English Translation
-
Setting out far off
along the eastern highway,
the Mochizuki colts,
will we meet them on this night
at the barrier of Ōsaka
- Meaning
- The horses of Mochizuki, setting out from afar on the eastern road: will we meet them tonight, under the full moon, at the Barrier of Meeting, Ōsaka?
- Commentary
-
Book Three Autumn Poems 184
The poet wonders whether tonight, under the full moon, the horses of the Mochizuki pasture that have come so far from the east will be met at Ōsaka Barrier. Overlaying the place name Mochizuki with the full moon, and Ōsaka with meeting, the poem skillfully depicts the night of the horse welcoming.
The text gives no author's name for this poem.
Like the preceding poem, 183, it sings of the horse welcoming and draws on Ki no Tsurayuki's poem on the Mochizuki horses in the Shūiwakashū.
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, 'azumaji o', means along the road to the east, showing that the horses came from the eastern provinces.
Second line, 'haruka ni izuru', means setting out from afar.
Third line, 'mochizuki no', is a pivot word combining the Mochizuki pasture in Shinano with mochizuki, the full moon of the fifteenth day.
Fourth line, 'koma ni koyoi ya', means with the horses tonight, with the questioning particle ya.
Final line, 'ausaka no seki', is a pivot word in which ausaka is both Ōsaka on the border of Ōmi and Yamashiro and au, to meet. The poem ends on a noun.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Hiku koma no kazu yori hoka ni mietsuru wa seki no shimizu no kage ni zo arikeru
- Next Poem
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Sayakesa wa omoinashi ka to tsukikage o koyoi to shiranu hito ni towabaya