むら雲や月の隈をばのごふらむ
晴れゆくままに照りまさるかな
晴れゆくままに照りまさるかな
- Roma-ji
-
Murakumo ya tsuki no kuma o ba nogouramu hare yuku mama ni terimasaru kana
- English Translation
-
Is it the cloud banks
that are wiping clean the moon
of its every stain,
for as they clear away
it shines ever brighter still
- Meaning
- Are the drifting clouds wiping away the moon's blemishes? As they clear, it shines brighter and brighter.
- Commentary
-
Book Three Autumn Poems 206
Each time the gathered clouds pass over the moon, they seem to wipe away its blemishes, for as they clear the moon shines ever brighter. The poem has the freshness of a reversal, seeing the clouds that should hide the moon as polishing it clean.
In poem 188 in this book the author likened clouds to dust in the sky; here he sings of clouds as wiping the moon.
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, Toshiyori, is Minamoto no Toshiyori. A son of Minamoto no Tsunenobu, he compiled this anthology, the Kin'yōwakashū, at the command of Retired Emperor Shirakawa, and is known for his innovative style.
First line, 'murakumo ya', uses murakumo, banks of gathered cloud, and the particle ya binds with ramu in the third line.
Second line, 'tsuki no kuma o ba', uses kuma, shadow or blemish, answering 'without a blemish' in the preceding poem, 205.
Third line, 'nogouramu', means are they wiping it, ramu conjecturing the cause. The poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, 'hare yuku mama ni', means as they clear away.
Final line, 'terimasaru kana', means how it shines ever brighter, with the exclamatory kana.
- Author
- Minamoto no Toshiyori
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Kuma mo naki kagami to miyuru tsukikage ni kokoro utsuranu hito wa araji na
- Next Poem
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Todae shite hito mo kayowanu tanahashi wa tsuki bakari koso sumiwatarikere