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English
Audio: NHK Creative Library
Read by LibriVox volunteer Larry Wilson.
Audio courtesy of LibriVox (Public Domain).
左京大夫顕輔
秋風に
たなびく雲の
たえ間より
もれいづる月の
影のさやけさ
もれいつる
つきのかけ
のさやけさ
あきか
- Poem 79
- 秋風に
たなびく雲の
たえ間より
もれいづる月の 影のさやけさ
Author: Master of the Left Capital Akisuke (1090–1155)
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashū, Autumn
- English Verse Translation
- See how the wind of autumn drives The clouds to left and right, While in between the moon
peeps out, Dispersing with her light The darkness of the night.
— William N. Porter, 1909
- Modern Translation
- Through the gaps in the clouds trailing in the autumn wind, the moonlight filters through, so clear and still.
- Commentary
- According to the headnote in the Shin Kokin Wakashū, this poem was "presented as one of a hundred poems offered to Retired Emperor Sutoku (Poem 77)." It was composed for the Kyūan Hyakushu, a sequence of one hundred poems commissioned by Emperor Sutoku.
- About the Poet
- The Master of the Left Capital Akisuke, known formally as Fujiwara no Akisuke, was a celebrated poet active in the late Heian period. He was born into a distinguished poetic lineage as the son of Fujiwara no Akisue, founder of the Rokujō-Fujiwara line. By order of Retired Emperor Sutoku, he was appointed compiler of the Shika Wakashū, and enlisted his son Fujiwara no Kiyosuke (Poem 84) to help with the editing — yet not a single one of Kiyosuke's own poems was included in the finished anthology, a slight said to reflect real tension between father and son. Akisuke served as Master of the Left Capital and attained the senior court rank of Junior Third Rank.
- Master of the Left Capital Akisuke'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)
Moonlight spilling through a break in the clouds —
the autumn night holds its breath in silence.Only that clear, pure light
quietly illuminates the depths of my heart.
- 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).