山里の門田の稲のほのぼのと
明くるも知らず月を見るかな
明くるも知らず月を見るかな
- Roma-ji
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Yamazato no kadota no ine no honobono to akuru mo shirazu tsuki o miru kana
- English Translation
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In the mountain village,
like the rice ears in the field
before the gate, dimly
dawn is breaking, and unaware
I go on gazing at the moon
- Meaning
- In the mountain village, dawn breaks dimly, as dim as the rice ears in the field before the gate, and unaware of it, I go on gazing at the moon.
- Commentary
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Book Three Autumn Poems 215
Gazing at the moon in a mountain village, the poet fails to notice that night is dimly giving way to dawn, as the rice ears in the field before the gate come faintly into view. The poem depicts a heart absorbed in the moon all night, set in a rural scene at daybreak.
The second line's 'the field before the gate' is the same as in the second line of poem 173 in this book; there the rice leaves of the gate field are sung at dusk, here the rice is sung at dawn.
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, 'yamazato no', is a village among the mountains.
Second line, 'kadota no ine no', uses kadota, the field before the gate, also sung in poem 173 in this book. From the first line through ho in the third, the words form a preface leading to honobono.
Third line, 'honobono to', is a pivot word in which ho is both ho, the ear of rice, and the first sound of honobono, dimly, describing the night slowly brightening.
Fourth line, 'akuru mo shirazu', means not noticing the dawn.
Final line, 'tsuki o miru kana', means I gaze at the moon, with the exclamatory kana.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
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Ariake no tsuki matsu hodo no utatane wa yamanoha nomi zo yume ni miekeru
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Ariake no tsuki mo akashi no urakaze ni nami bakari koso yoru to mieshika