[7]あまの(Amano)

 Poem Meaning and Background

Hokusai's depiction of Nakamaro's poem

あまのはら・ふりさけみれば・かすがなる

amanohara・furisake mireba・Kasuga naru

みかさのやまの・いでしつきかも

Mikasa no yama no・ideshi tsuki kamo

    ~ 阿倍仲麻呂　(Abe no Nakamaro)

Translation

When I look up at
The wide-stretched plain of heaven,
Is the moon the same
That rose on Mt. Mikasa
In the land of Kasuga?

Meaning

    The poem was written by the author while he was living overseas and was working as a civil-servant in China. Mt. Mikasa is a mountain in his hometown in Nara, so like many other poems in the anthology which reference the moon, he is expressing a longing: in this case, a longing to return home. This poem reflects feelings of homesickness, and a sense of nostalgia when thinking back on the familiar sights of one's hometown. In the 100 poems, this is the only one in the anthology that was written by someone living outside of Japan. 

Author 

  Abe no Nakamaro (c. 698-770)  was a poet of the Nara Period and recognized for his academic skills as a young man. In 717 he went to China with a Japanese envoy and stayed overseas, later passing a civil service exam and taking on an administrative role there. He attempted more than once to return home; however, on the first journey, the ship sank, forcing him to return to China. The second time, he was shipwrecked when the ship ran aground off the coast of Vietnam, and again he returned to China. Later that same year, the An Lushan Rebellion began, making it unsafe for Nakamaro to travel. He passed away at the age of 72 without ever returning to Japan.