In the Ninth Month [of the year] when Retired Emperor Go-Ichijō was born, on a night when the moon was shining without any hindrance, the Greater Nijō Regent [Fujiwara no Norimichi], then being a Captain, invited several young women of the house and boarded boats on the lake; while rowing around the ‘pines on Nakajima’, it was beautiful so:
くもりなくちとせにすめる水のおもにやどれる月のかげものどけし
| kumorinaku chi tose ni sumeru mizu no omo ni yadoreru tsuki no kage mo nodokeshi |
Without a trace of cloud, For a thousand years upon the limpid Water’s surface The lodging moon Light brings peace. |
Murasaki Shikibu
紫式部