Hyakunin Isshu Oracle

No.57 紫式部「めぐり逢ひて 見しやそれとも 分かぬ間に 雲隠れにし 夜半の月かな」

めぐり逢ひて 見しやそれとも 分かぬ間に 雲隠れにし 夜半の月かな

紫式部

was that really you? — the midnight moon, already gone

was that really you? — the midnight moon, already gone

キーワードKeywords

ReunionUncertain RecognitionHidden MoonMidnightBrief Encounter
★★ Miscellaneous

紫式部Murasaki Shikibu — No. 57 女房・姫Court Lady

Author of the Tale of Genji, who served Empress Shōshi and turned her observation of court life into fiction.

めぐりあひて みしやそれとも わかぬまに くもがくれにし よはのつきかな

Meguri-aite Mishi ya sore to mo Wakanu ma ni Kumo-gakure ni shi Yowa no tsuki kana

現代語訳Modern Japanese

コンセプトConcept

情景The Scene

Late night, a doorway, a face half-lit. Someone she has not seen since childhood — maybe. Before recognition completes, the person is gone, the way the midnight moon slips behind cloud mid-glance. She is left holding an unfinished identification.

日本の美意識Japanese Aesthetic

Yūgen (Depth of the Unresolved)

The poem refuses to confirm what it saw, and the refusal is the whole feeling. Resolution closes a piece; withheld resolution keeps it circulating in the listener. End on the cloud, not on the moon.