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Audio: NHK Creative Library
Read by LibriVox volunteer Larry Wilson.
Audio courtesy of LibriVox (Public Domain).
三条院
心にも
あらで憂き世に
ながらへば
恋しかるべき
夜半の月かな
こひしかる
へきよはの
つきかな
こころに
- Poem 68
- 心にも
あらで憂き世に
ながらへば
恋しかるべき 夜半の月かな
Author: Retired Emperor Sanjō (976–1017)
Source: Go Shūi Wakashū, Miscellaneous
- English Verse Translation
- If in this troubled world of ours I still must linger on, My only friend shall be the moon,
Which on my sadness shone, When other friends were gone.
— William N. Porter, 1909
- Modern Translation
- If I live on in this painful world without purpose, I am sure I will come to miss this night and its lonely moon.
- Commentary
- This poem was composed when Retired Emperor Sanjō was being pressured by Fujiwara no Michinaga to abdicate. Having lost his sight to an eye disease, Sanjō was in deep despair. He must have quietly reflected that the moonlight he could still faintly sense now would one day become something he longed for. About a month after composing this poem, he finally resolved to abdicate.
- About the Poet
- Retired Emperor Sanjō was born the second son of Emperor Reizei and ascended the throne at age thirty-six, though his reign lasted only five years. During that time, the imperial palace burned down twice, and he suffered from an illness that eventually led to blindness. After abdicating, he took Buddhist vows, and passed away the following year, bringing his turbulent life to a close.
- Retired Emperor Sanjō's Chart of the Heart
-
A chart and a modern-language reflection of the poet's inner feelings.
The Poet's Feelings (A Personal Interpretation)
How much longer
can I go on gazing at this quiet, late-night moon?Once it's gone, I know
I'll long for this faint light more than anything.
- Poem Illustration
-
This image is based on an illustration from William N. Porter's A Hundred Verses from Old Japan, his 1909 English translation of the Hyakunin Isshu published in England, colorized and reworked using Adobe Firefly (generative AI).