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A Hundred Verses from Old Japan · 80 of 101

79. The Shinto Official Aki-suke, of the Left Side of the Capital: Sakyō no Taiu

79

The Shinto Official Aki-suke, of the Left Side of the Capital

SAKYŌ NO TAIU AKI-SUKE

Aki kaze ni Tanabiku kumo no Taema yori More-izaru tsuki no Kage no sayakesa.

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.

Aki-suke died about the year 1155. More-izuru literally means, that the light of the moon ‘leaks out’; the verse is a charming example of a Japanese picture-poem. Probably the first word of the verse was purposely made to coincide with the poet’s first name in sound, although the two words are written with different characters in the original.