Hyakunin Isshu, Poem 36
Translation and comments by Ad Blankestijn
(version September 2022)
summer nights:
while just now it still was evening,
it is already getting light -
where in the clouds
might the moon dwell?
natsu no yo wa
mada yoi nagara
akenuru wo
kumo no izuko ni
tsuki yadoruramu
夏の夜は
まだ宵ながら
明けぬるを
雲のいづくに
月やどるらむ
Kiyohara no Fukayabu 清原深養父 (dates uncertain)
The head-note in the Kokinshu says: "Composed toward dawn on a beautiful moonlit night."
For ancient Japanese poets, the major characteristic of summer nights was their lamentable shortness (cutting down the time one could stay with a loved one). This was such a hackneyed convention that Fukuyabu doesn't have to mention it explicitly. He just states as a characteristic of summer nights that, although one still has the feeling it is early in the evening, in fact dawn has unexpectedly arrived. His originality lies in the last two lines: normally, the moon moves during the night from the Eastern Hills in Kyoto to the Western Hills, but this night has surely been too short to make that full journey. So where is the moon which he cannot see because of the clouds? Where does it lodge?
Notes
- natsu no yo: summer night are short nights
- yoi: early evening
- -nu(ru): added to an intransitive verb this indicates a definite completion
- wo: here a concessive conjunctive particle "although", "but"
- izuko: "where"
- yadoru: ”to lodge", "to dwell," a personification of the moon
- -ramu: indicates a conjecture
The poet
Not much is known of Kiyohara no Fukayabu, except that he was unfortunate in promotions, and he ended his career in 930 as Junior Fifth Rank, Lower Grade, after having had several secretarial posts. It is said that he excelled at playing the koto, and belonged to the circle of Fujiwara no Kanesuke (poem 27), Ki no Tsurayuki (poem 35) and Oshikochi no Mitsune (poem 29). In his later years, he built Fudarakuji temple at Iwakura in the northern part of Kyoto and lived in seclusion. Fukayabu was the grandfather of Motosuke (No. 42) and the great-grandfather of Sei Shonagon (No. 62). He has 17 poems in the Kokinshu.References: Pictures of the Heart, The Hyakunin Isshu in Word and Image by Joshua S. Mostow (University of Hawai'i Press, 1996); Traditional Japanese Poetry, An Anthology, by Steven D. Carter (Stanford University Press, 1991); Hyakunin Isshu by Inoue Muneo, etc. (Shinchosha, 1990); Genshoku Hyakunin Isshu by Suzuki Hideo, etc. (Buneido, 1997); Ogura Hyakunin Isshu at Japanese Text Initiative (University of Virginia Library Etext Center); Hyakunin Isshu wo aruku by Shimaoka Shin (Kofusha Shuppan); Hyakunin Isshu, Ocho waka kara chusei waka e by Inoue Muneo (Chikuma Shoin, 2004); Basho's Haiku (2 vols) by Toshiharu Oseko (Maruzen, 1990); The Ise Stories by Joshua S. Mostow and Royall Tyler (University of Hawai'i Press, 2010); Kokin Wakashu, The First Imperial Anthology of Japanese Poetry by Helen Craig McCullough (Stanford University Press, 1985); Kokinshu, A Collection of Poems Ancient and Modern by Laurel Rasplica Rodd and Mary Catherine Henkenius (University of Tokyo Press, 1984); Kokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1994); Shinkokin Wakashu (Shogakkan, 1995); Taketori Monogatari-Ise Monogatari-Yamato Monogatari-Heichu Monogatari (Shogakkan, 1994).
Illustrations: Wikipedia
Hyakunin Isshu Index