
Through a gap in the clouds trailing on the autumn wind, the moonlight streams out — how clear and bright it is.
Sakyō no Daibu Akisuke—Fujiwara no Akisuke (1090–1155)—was born into the Rokujō Fujiwara house, a hereditary house of poetry, and was a first-rank poet of his age who compiled the imperial anthology Shika Wakashū at the command of Retired Emperor Sutoku. This poem is one of the "Kyūan Hundred Poems" presented to Sutoku, and was later included in the Shin Kokin Wakashū, Autumn I. With no story, no love, no lesson, it is one of the finest pure scenic poems in the Hyakunin Isshu, giving its thirty-one syllables to nothing but the beauty of a moment of light.
"From a break in the clouds trailing on the autumn wind, the moonlight spilling through—how clear and pure it is." The final phrase, "the clarity of its light" (kage no sayakesa), ends on a noun, so the poem closes in mid-exclamation. Read for what lies beneath: it is precisely because there are clouds that the moonlight through the gap stands out. Light that is blocked, that makes you wait, and only then appears, is the more beautiful.
The night road after stepping off the last bus. The sky is a thick lid of cloud. The wind rises, the clouds move—and in the moonlight spilling through the gap, the world catches its breath for a moment. "Sayakesa," clarity, is the name people a thousand years ago gave to this light, they say. The light hides again in mere seconds, but a keepsake remains behind the eyes. Why is a moment's moon on a cloudy night more beautiful than on a clear one?—the longer you're made to wait, the clearer the light; the more it's blocked, the more it dazzles. In the Bridge we touch life, softly, just one step: "Even over days that are nothing but cloud, a break is being prepared." The Final is an unhurried walk home: "I'm glad I looked up—it's the same light as a thousand years ago."
秋風に(新古今集/左京大夫顕輔・百人一首79番)Garu JP
終バスを降りた 夜道の上
空は分厚い 雲のふた
月の在り処も わからないまま
イヤホン外して 歩き出す
風が出てきた 雲が動く
夜が少しだけ そわそわする
秋風に たなびく雲の 絶え間より
もれ出づる月の 影のさやけさ
雲の切れ間から こぼれた光
世界がいちど 息を整えた
街の屋根も 木々の葉先も
さやさやと澄んだ 色に生まれ変わる
ほんの数秒で 月はまた隠れ
夜道はもとの 暗さに戻る
それでも目の奥 残っている
あの澄んだ光の 忘れ形見
晴れた夜より 曇りの夜の
一瞬の月が どうしてきれい
秋風に たなびく雲の 絶え間より
もれ出づる月の 影のさやけさ
千年前の 歌人もきっと
同じ光に 立ち止まった
言葉にならないと 言いながら
三十一文字に 残してくれた
待たされた分だけ 光は澄んで
遮られた分だけ まぶしくなる
曇ってばかりの 日々の上にも
切れ間はちゃんと 用意されてる
秋風に たなびく雲の 絶え間より
もれ出づる月の 影のさやけさ
秋風に たなびく雲の 絶え間より
もれ出づる月の 影のさやけさ
急がなくていい 帰り道
もう一度雲が 開くかもしれない
見上げててよかった 今夜の空を
千年前と 同じ光だ
もれ出づる月の……
影のさやけさ
Akikaze ni (Shin Kokin-shu / Sakyo no Daibu Akisuke, Hyakunin Isshu No. 79) Garu JP
Off the last bus, onto the night road
The sky sealed under a thick lid of clouds
No way to tell where the moon might be
I pull out my earphones and start to walk
A wind picks up, the clouds begin to move
The night grows just a little restless
Through a rift in the clouds trailing on the autumn wind
How clear the moonlight comes streaming through
Light spilled out from a break in the clouds
The world paused once to catch its breath
The rooftops of town, the tips of the leaves
Reborn in a rustling, crystal-clear color
In mere seconds the moon hides again
The night road returns to its old darkness
And yet, deep in my eyes it remains
A keepsake of that pure, clear light
More than any cloudless night, why is
A moment of moon through clouds so beautiful
Through a rift in the clouds trailing on the autumn wind
How clear the moonlight comes streaming through
A poet a thousand years ago, surely
Stood still beneath this very light
Saying no words could ever hold it
Yet left it in thirty-one syllables
The longer it kept us waiting, the clearer the light
The more it was hidden, the brighter it shines
Even over days that stay overcast
A break in the clouds is already prepared
Through a rift in the clouds trailing on the autumn wind
How clear the moonlight comes streaming through
Through a rift in the clouds trailing on the autumn wind
How clear the moonlight comes streaming through
No need to hurry down the road home
The clouds might open one more time
I'm glad I kept looking up at tonight's sky
The same light as a thousand years ago
The moon comes streaming through...
How clear its light