安倍仲麻呂あべのなかまろ

天あまの原はら
ふりさけみれば
春日かすがなる
三笠みかさの山やまに
出いでし月つきかも

みかさのや
まにいてし
つきかも

あまの

Poem 7: 天あまの原はらふりさけみれば春日かすがなる
三笠みかさの山やまに出いでし月つきかも
Author: Abe no Nakamaro (698–770)
Source: Kokin Wakashū, Travel

English Verse Translation: While gazing up into the sky, My thoughts have wandered far; Methinks I see the rising moon Above Mount Mikasa At far-off Kasuga.
— William N. Porter, 1909

Modern Translation: Looking up at the vast sky, I see the moon. Is that the same moon that rose over Mount Mikasa in Kasuga, so long ago?

Commentary: The Kokin Wakashū says this was "written while looking at the moon in China." Abe no Nakamaro wrote it at a farewell party in Mingzhou (now Ningbo) as he was leaving for home after many years in Tang China. At Mount Mikasa, envoys to China are said to have prayed for a safe voyage.

About the Poet: Abe no Nakamaro went to Tang China as a student in his late teens. He passed the imperial exams in his twenties and served Emperor Xuanzong in high posts. Too valued to be let go, he set out for home only after 50, but his ship was blown to Vietnam by a storm. He returned to Chang'an and died there at 73.

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).

Abe no Nakamaro: A Short Timeline

698: Born as the eldest son of Abe no Funamori
717: Goes to Tang China with a Japanese mission and studies in Chang'an
725: Becomes an official of the Tang government
733: Asks to return home, but is not allowed
753: His ship home is wrecked and drifts far south
c. 760: Becomes military governor of Annam (in present-day Vietnam)
770: Dies in Tang China

Appendix

Kasuga Taisha Shrine at the Foot of Mount Mikasa: This shrine stands in a corner of Nara Park, at the foot of Mount Mikasa, and honors the guardian gods of the Fujiwara clan. The fields of Kasuga around it are a sacred place surrounded by gentle nature, where people have prayed since ancient times. Far away in Tang China, Abe no Nakamaro may have looked up at a foreign sky, picturing the moon over these fields of Kasuga.
A Tasty Japanese Sweet, "Tsukikamo": "Tsukikamo" is a dorayaki (a pancake sandwich with sweet bean paste) from Kanshundo, a long-established Japanese sweets shop in Kyoto. Its name comes from Abe no Nakamaro's Hyakunin Isshu poem.
The Sea Routes of the Envoys to Tang China: Click to enlarge.

The envoys to Tang China left from Naniwa (Osaka), sailed through the Seto Inland Sea to Hakata, and crossed to China from there. At first they used the "northern route" along the Korean Peninsula, but when relations with the Korean kingdom of Silla grew worse, they switched to the "southern route," crossing the open sea away from Korea. The ships had no compass, and on the southern route there were no landmarks to guide them, so the voyage was far more dangerous and difficult than on the northern route.
A Poem by Fujiwara no Kiyokawa: Fujiwara no Kiyokawa was one of the envoys who, like Abe no Nakamaro, hoped to return home. But he too never made it back, and died in Tang China. He wrote the next poem before leaving for China.

In Japanese
春日野かすがのに斎いつく三諸みもろの梅うめの花はな
栄さかえてあり待まて帰かえり来くるまで kasuganoni itsukumimorono umenohana
sakaetearimate kaerikurumade Man'yōshū, Fujiwara no Kiyokawa
In English

Plum blossoms at the sacred shrine in the fields of Kasuga,
please keep blooming beautifully,
and wait for me until I return.
Li Bai's Poem on Hearing of Nakamaro's Death: In Tang China, Abe no Nakamaro was friends with Chinese poets such as Li Bai and Wang Wei. The next poem is Li Bai's "Weeping for Chao Heng," a poem of four lines with seven characters each. "Chao Heng" was Nakamaro's Chinese name. Li Bai wrote it in grief when he heard that Nakamaro's ship had been lost at sea.

In Chinese

日本晁卿辞帝都
征帆一片遶蓬壷
明月不帰沈碧海
白雲愁色満蒼梧

As read in Japanese:

日本にほんの晁卿ちょうこう、帝都ていとを辞じし
征帆せいはん一片いっぺん蓬壺ほうこを遶めぐる
明月めいげつ帰かえらず碧海へきかいに沈しずみ
白雲はくうん愁色しゅうしょく蒼梧そうごに満みつ

In English

Chao Heng of Japan left the capital, Chang'an,
and on a single small boat
tried to cross the great eastern sea.
But he, as noble as the bright moon,
sank into the blue sea and never returned.
White clouds, full of sorrow, fill the sky over Cangwu.

Chao Heng: Abe no Nakamaro's name in China.

Penghu (Hōko): a legendary mountain believed to lie in the eastern sea. Some read it as meaning Japan.

Cangwu (Sōgo): a place in eastern Guangxi.
A Symbol of Japan–China Friendship: The Abe no Nakamaro Monument: Indiana jo, CC BY-SA 4.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

A monument to Abe no Nakamaro stands in a park on the site of the Xingqing Palace in Xi'an, China (the old capital, Chang'an). It was built as a symbol of friendship between Japan and China, inspired by the friendship of Nakamaro and Li Bai. On its sides are carved a Chinese translation of Nakamaro's Hyakunin Isshu poem and Li Bai's poem "Weeping for Chao Heng," written when he heard of Nakamaro's death. See it on the map
Ukiyo-e by Katsushika Hokusai: Katsushika Hokusai; Katsushika Hokusai died 1849-05-10; Nishimura Yohachi, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

This print is from One Hundred Poems Explained by the Nurse (Hyakunin Isshu Uba ga Etoki) by Katsushika Hokusai, an ukiyo-e artist of the Edo period. The idea of the series is a nurse explaining the Hyakunin Isshu poems with easy-to-understand pictures. It shows Nakamaro gazing out to sea. Surely he is looking at the eastern sea and thinking of his homeland. The moon floating on the water and the flags streaming in the east wind are also striking.
Utagawa Kuniyoshi's Hyakunin Isshu no Uchi: British Museum, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

This ukiyo-e is by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, an artist of the Edo period.
It shows a scene that matches the poem in the Hyakunin Isshu.
Tsukioka Yoshitoshi's One Hundred Aspects of the Moon: Yoshitoshi, One Hundred Aspects of the Moon: "Ama no hara furisake mireba Kasuga naru Mikasa no yama ni ideshi tsuki kamo", Akiyama Buemon, 1888. National Diet Library Digital Collections https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1306326 (accessed 2024-06-29)

This ukiyo-e is by Tsukioka Yoshitoshi, an artist active from the end of the Edo period into the early Meiji period. The figure on the right is probably Abe no Nakamaro, gazing at the moon over the great sea while longing for the moon over the fields of Kasuga. The figure on the left is not known; it may be one of the poets Nakamaro befriended, such as Li Bai or Wang Wei.