[79] あきか (Akika)

 Poem Meaning and Background

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秋風に・たなびく雲の・絶え間より

akikaze ni・tanabiku kumo no・taema yori

もれ出づる月の・影のさやけさ

more izuru tsuki no・kage no sayakesa

〜左京大夫顕輔（Sakyō no Daibu Akisuke）

Translation

See how clear and bright

Is the moonlight finding ways

Through the riven clouds

That, with drifting autumn wind,

Gracefully float in the sky.

Meaning

The author Akisuke here has composed a straightforward poem capturing the beauty of an autumn moon. The author describes with awe the clarity of the moonlight as he catches glimpses of it shining through "trailing" clouds. The striking aspect of this poem is how richly the author paints the scene; you can almost feel the cool autumn breeze as it pushes the clouds hurriedly across the sky, and the purity of the moon's light when it appears through the gaps in the clouds. 

In the Japanese version, the author starts with 秋風に(aki kaze ni), which means "blown by the autumn wind". たなびく雲 (tanabiku kumo) refers to clouds which are not thick, but rather trailing in long, thin lines. 絶え間より (taemayori) means "from between rifts in the clouds". 月の・影のさやけさ (tsuki no/ kage no sayakesa) refers to the clarity of the moon's light. Here, 影 (kage), which can sometimes mean "shadow" or "reflection", actually means "light", since it is being used to describe the moon. 

Author

Fujiwara no Akisuke (1090 ~ 1155) was a poet and nobleman in the Heian Period. He was appointed by Emperor Sutoku (author of [77] Se) to compile an imperial poetry anthology known as the Shika Wakashū. Akisuke was the father of Fujiwara no Kiyosuke, author of [84] Nagara.