三笠山もりくる月の清ければ
神の心も澄みやしぬらむ
神の心も澄みやしぬらむ
- Roma-ji
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Mikasayama morikuru tsuki no kiyokereba kami no kokoro mo sumi ya shinuramu
- English Translation
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On Mount Mikasa
so pure is the moon that slips
through the guarding trees,
surely the heart of the god
has grown clear as well tonight
- Meaning
- The moonlight slipping through the trees of Mount Mikasa is so pure that the heart of the god who guards the mountain must surely have grown clear as well.
- Commentary
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Book Three Autumn Poems 203
The moonlight filtering through the trees of Mount Mikasa is so pure that the heart of the Kasuga god who guards the mountain must also have grown clear. Overlaying the purity of the moon with the purity of the god's heart, the poem praises the deity of Kasuga.
Born into the Fujiwara, the author expresses his reverence for the Kasuga god, tutelary deity of his clan. With poem 200 in this book and the preceding poem, 202, it continues the poems on the moon over Mount Mikasa.
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.
The author, Akisuke, is Fujiwara no Akisuke. A son of Fujiwara no Akisue, he rose to Master of the Western Capital Office. A poet of the Rokujō Fujiwara house, he compiled the Shikawakashū at the command of Retired Emperor Sutoku.
First line, 'mikasayama', is the sacred hill of the Kasuga Shrine; like poems 200 and 202 in this book, it sings of the moon over Mount Mikasa.
Second line, 'morikuru tsuki no', is a pivot word in which mori means both moru, for light to leak through the trees, and moru, to guard the mountain, suggesting the god's protection.
Third line, 'kiyokereba', means since it is pure, a definite condition.
Fourth line, 'kami no kokoro mo', means the heart of the god too.
Final line, 'sumi ya shinuramu', means has it grown clear, the particle ya binding with the conjectural ramu.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Akisuke
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Ika nareba aki wa hikari no masaruramu onaji mikasa no yamanoha no tsuki
- Next Poem
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Kasugayama mine yori izuru tsukikage wa saho no kawase no kōri narikeri