隈もなき鏡と見ゆる月影に
心うつらぬ人はあらじな
心うつらぬ人はあらじな
- Roma-ji
-
Kuma mo naki kagami to miyuru tsukikage ni kokoro utsuranu hito wa araji na
- English Translation
-
In the light of the moon
that seems a mirror without
a single shadow,
surely there is no one whose
heart is not reflected there
- Meaning
- In the moonlight that looks like a flawless mirror, surely there is no one whose heart is not reflected and drawn to it.
- Commentary
-
Book Three Autumn Poems 205
In moonlight like a mirror without a single blemish, everyone must see their heart reflected and be drawn to it. Likening the moon to a mirror and putting into utsuru both 'to be reflected' and 'for the heart to be drawn', the poem praises the moon's allure.
In poem 196 in this book the moon rising from Mirror Mountain is sung as unclouded; here the moon itself is likened to a mirror.
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, Nakamasa, is Minamoto no Nakamasa. A son of Minamoto no Yoritsuna, he rose to Head of the Arsenal Bureau. He was the father of Minamoto no Yorimasa and was active as a poet from the reign of Emperor Horikawa.
First line, 'kuma mo naki', means without shadow or blemish. 'The moon's blemish' appears in the next poem, 206.
Second line, 'kagami to miyuru', means seeming a mirror, likening the moon to one.
Third line, 'tsukikage ni', means in the moonlight.
Fourth line, 'kokoro utsuranu', is a pivot word in which utsuru means both to be reflected in a mirror and for the heart to be moved or drawn, an associated word with the mirror.
Final line, 'hito wa araji na', means there can be no one, ji being the negative conjectural and na an exclamatory final particle.
- Author
- Minamoto no Nakamasa
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Kasugayama mine yori izuru tsukikage wa saho no kawase no kōri narikeri
- Next Poem
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Murakumo ya tsuki no kuma o ba nogouramu hare yuku mama ni terimasaru kana