KKS 40

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Text

月夜に「梅の花を折りて」と人の言ひければ、折るとてよめる

On a moonlit night, someone said “pick me a plum flower,” so he picked one and read this.

躬恒

Ōshikōchi no Mitsune

月夜にはそれとも見えず梅の花香をたづねてぞしるべかりける

tsukiyo ni wa sore to mo mie-zu mume no hana ka o tazunete zo shiru bekari-keru

On a moonlit night It does not look like that at all Plum flowers It’s by following the scent That I now have found it.

Notes

Someone

The lack of honorifics in the preface suggest this is a friend, woman, or neighbor, rather than a patron or higher ranking figure.

Other sources:

• Kokin waka rokujō
• Teika hachidaishō

Analysis

This is a basic mitate (“elegant confusion”) poem showing the white plums and moonlight confused for each other. It pairs with the previous poem – there, the poet used the scent to find the plums in the darkness, whereas here the poet uses the scent to tell the difference between plums and the bright white moonlight. The context of the poem could be an immediate composition on receiving the request (or picking the flower), or it could be a poem sent with the flower if the person asking is not actually present.

The theme of confusion between white plums and snow is more common than moonlight (see poems 334-337 in this collection), although examples of the latter can be found in Chinese poetry.

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