Hyakunin Isshu Oracle

No.23 大江千里「月見れば 千々に物こそ 悲しけれ わが身ひとつの 秋にはあらねど」

月見れば 千々に物こそ 悲しけれ わが身ひとつの 秋にはあらねど

大江千里

one moon, a thousand sorrows — and none of them are only mine

one moon, a thousand sorrows — and none of them are only mine

キーワードKeywords

MoonlightThousandfold SadnessShared SeasonIsolationAutumn Night
Nature/Seasons Autumn

大江千里Ōe no Chisato — No. 23 官人Official

Born to a family of Chinese scholarship, he experimented with turning lines of Chinese verse into waka.

つきみれば ちぢにものこそ かなしけれ わがみひとつの あきにはあらねど

Tsuki mireba Chiji ni mono koso Kanashikere Waga mi hitotsu no Aki ni wa aranedo

現代語訳Modern Japanese

コンセプトConcept

情景The Scene

A courtyard at night, everything blue-grey and edged. He looks up and the single moon splits his mind into a thousand separate sadnesses. Then the correction, almost embarrassed: this autumn did not arrive for me alone. Somewhere behind other walls, other people are looking up.

日本の美意識Japanese Aesthetic

Mono no Aware (Shared Transience)

The poem widens from I to everyone in its final line, and the grief gets larger and lighter at once. The most personal work travels furthest when it admits it is not unique. Say the private thing, then leave the door open.