Kuraki yori
July 3rd 2009 07:57
Kuraki yori
This is the first line of a famous waka by Izumi Shikibu
Kuraki yori
Kuraki michi ni zo
Irinubeki
Haruka ni terase
Yama no ha no tsuki
Kuraki michi ni zo
Irinubeki
Haruka ni terase
Yama no ha no tsuki
In modern Japanese Kurasa yori kurasa michi ni zo irinubeshi haruka no terase yama no ha no tsuki
Lets look again at the romaji ku ra ki yo ri ku ra ki mi chi ni zo ha ru ka ni te ra se ya ma no ha no tsu ki.
Rough translation from the darkness onto a way of darkness i must travel/exist/enter
The first two lines are allegedly a referenc eto a line form the Lotus Sutra ch.7 that reads ...
from darkness they enter darkness ... and the last two may also be a reference to a type of buddhist painting that shows buddha a shining figure rising above a mountain like the full moon rising.
if you hear yori spoken aloud slowly you may think of yo first ... night and world and cause and other on or kun readings of that word.
Iri or iru while written as enter can mean need or exist.
Haruka often gets translated as stretching along but the word is not haru its is haruka an adjective / adverb.
There yet another type of word play in the final line
Ha can be foliage or edge or school! mountain of the schoolof the moon?
i wonder where the Monk Shooku Shoonin came from?
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