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月に遠くおぼゆる藤の色香かな tsuki ni tōku oboyuru fuji no iroka kana Buson - In the moonlight, the color and scent of the wisteria, seems so far away

月に遠くおぼゆる藤の色香かな (tsuki ni tōku oboyuru fuji no iroka kana) is Buson's wisteria, whose color and scent seem far under the moon. He brought it to his circle's verse-writing sessions in 1780, and it was in print by 1800. This study follows its one crux, what the flowers are far from, and an edition of 1925 that reads 目 for 月.

Japanese Scroll of Buson - In the moonlight, the color and scent of the wisteria, seems so far away (tsuki ni tōku oboyuru fuji no iroka kana) — Calligraphy by Eri Takase
Buson - In the moonlight, the color and scent of the wisteria, seems so far away月に遠くおぼゆる藤の色香かなtsuki ni tōku oboyuru fuji no iroka kana

Original art by Master Calligrapher Eri Takase

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Abstract

月に遠くおぼゆる藤の色香かな, under the moon, the wisteria's color and scent seem far, is Buson's, one of the hokku he brought to his circle's verse-writing sessions of 1780, and it was first printed in 1800 in the anthology 新五子稿, a century before the manuscript called his 遺稿 reached print. The scholarly edition of 1925, working from a session draft, reads its first word as 目, far to the eye, and calls 月 a copyist's error; every print before it, and the complete works of 1992 as Makoto Ueda cites them, read 月. What the flowers are far from was argued at a reading meeting in 1903, whose members agreed that a faint moon makes them seem far and concluded that the verse is imperfect; a book of 1920 answered in Buson's imagined voice that wisteria hangs beneath its trellis, away from the moon. Blyth rendered it twice, in 1949 and 1950, and Hamill, Ueda and Lowenstein followed.

Overview

The text. The scroll carries 月に遠くおぼゆる藤の色香かな, the words of every print from 1800 on. The 新五子稿 of 1800 writes it in a cursive hand, 月に遠くおほゆる藤の色香, the kana unmarked and the close run into one stroke that reads as 哉 [1]; its typeset reprint of 1916 prints かな [2]. The 遺稿 as 水落露石 printed it in 1900 writes 月に遠く覺ゆる藤の色香哉 [3], and so does Shiki's manuscript copy of the same year [4]. After that the writing splits twice, and not by date: 覺ゆる in 紅緑 1904 [5], the 1907 講義 [6], 鳴雪 1909 [7] and the 1910 三家集 [8]; おぼゆる in 岩本 1906 [9], 零余子 1921 [10], 半田 1925 and 1935 [11][12], the 1926 collections [13][14] and the 1928 index [15]. 哉 in Shiki, the 講義, 鳴雪, 零余子 and the index; かな in 紅緑, the 三家集, 半田 and the 1926 名句全集. One edition reads the first word otherwise. 潁原退蔵's of 1925 prints 目に遠くおほゆる藤の色香哉, with the source tag 連句會草稿, a session draft, and notes that 月 in the 新五子稿 and the 遺稿 is probably a copyist's error [16]. Ueda, citing the complete works edited by 尾形仂 and others, romanizes tsuki [17]. The scroll's kana form is the form of the editors of 1921 to 1935. The meter is six, seven, five, the first line one over: つ・き・に・と・お・く, お・ぼ・ゆ・る・ふ・じ・の, い・ろ・か・か・な.

The sense. The verse's one crux is what the flowers are far from, and it was argued in a room in 1903. 鳴雪 drew the moon on one side, the wisteria opposite and the poet at the third corner, and then said that a moon shining clearly would make the flowers seem near it, and that its unclearness is what makes them seem far; 碧梧桐 set the geometry aside, placed the scene at dusk under a faint moon when the flowers' color and scent are at their best, and agreed with 鳴雪 on the words; 虚子 said the hour does not matter, that at night the color is blurred in moonlight and seems far, and that the scent is carried along only by the rhythm. The other two called that too subjective and said some real distance from the moon is felt as well. The record closes: after two or three more arguments, the conclusion was that it is an imperfect verse [6]. 紅緑 the next year filed it under Buson's love of the word far [5]. In 1920 木村架空, in a book of dreams in which Buson answers his readers, gave him a reading of his own: wisteria does not face the sky as plum and cherry do but hangs down beneath a trellis, so its color and scent are of course far from the moon, as against the cherry's white blossoms, which shine back at it [18]. 零余子 in 1921 restated 鳴雪's point: were the moon bright the flowers would seem near; being faint, they seem far, and that scene is the best [10]. 潁原 in 1925, reading 目, took it that the wisteria's color and scent, dim and indistinct, seem far to the eye, in the spirit of the 徒然草's 藤のおぼつかなきさま, the uncertain beauty of wisteria [16][19]. Blyth in 1949 rendered the wisteria far away in the moonlight, and in 1950 far from the moon [20][21]. Ueda in 1998 saw purple flowers on a trellis in the moonlight, darker and more mysterious at night than plum or cherry [17].

The words. 月に遠く is the crux: far from the moon, or far, under the moon; read as 目に遠く, it would be far to the eye, and the crux would go. 紅緑 in 1904 set it among Buson's verses of distance, 春風や堤長うして家遠し and 都に遠き桃の宿, and said 遠き is the poet's own word [5]. おぼゆる, written 覺ゆる and おほゆる, is the classical 覚ゆ, is felt to be, seems. 藤の色香 is the wisteria's color-and-scent, 色香 one word, as 虚子 said in 1903, 唯調子で色香とつゞけた迄, the word is carried by the rhythm; so scent seems far is not to be pressed [6]. かな is the exclamation; the sentence has no verb but seems. As words the line says: Under the moon, far off they seem, the wisteria's color and scent.

The verse in English. Blyth gave the verse's earliest known English rendering in 1949 and a second in 1950, the second keeping 遠く with the moon [20][21]. Hamill in 1995, Ueda in 1998 and Lowenstein in 2007 gave three more; Ueda's and Lowenstein's keep it with the moon, Hamill's with the scent [22][17][23].

The historical record

1780. The verse-writing sessions. Ueda: in 1780 the workshop Buson's circle had begun the year before, by then mostly a hokku-writing party, met twelve times; Buson attended about half and contributed at least twenty-seven hokku, of which he gives three, this one among them [17]. 潁原 in 1925 prints the verse with the source tag 連句會草稿, and in his table of verses by year sets it under 安永九年, 1780, between 鶯やいばら潜りて高う飛ぶ and 飛びかはすやたけ心や親雀, the other two of Ueda's three [16][24].

1800. 嘉会室亨, 俳諧發句新五子稿, Kyoto, 菊舎太兵衛, 寛政12. An anthology of five poets, 太祇, 蕪村, 青蘿, 暁台 and 闌更, arranged by season word, with prefaces dated 寛政五 and 寛政十一. In the spring volume, under 藤, after 池の舟へ藤こぼるゝや此夕 and しなへよく疊へ置くや藤の花, the verse stands with 蕪村 beneath it, followed by 藤の花あやしき夫婦休みけり and 法然が珠數もかゝるや松の藤. The earliest print known here [1]. Reprinted in type in 1916, as 月に遠く覺ゆる藤の色香かな [2].

1900. 正岡子規, 俳家全集, his manuscript copy of the poets, the Buson volume, 春草. 人なき日藤に培ふ法師かな, 藤の花あやしき夫婦休みけり (新五子), 月に遠く覺ゆる藤の色香哉 (新五子), then the waka 柴の戸にあけくれかゝる白雲を. Shiki's marker under this verse and the one before names his source, the 新五子稿, which prints both under 藤 [4][1].

1900. 水落露石, 蕪村遺稿, Osaka, 鹿田静七, issued October 1900. A woodblock book in a cursive hand of the verses the 蕪村句集 of 1784 had left out. In the spring section, after 暮れかぬる日や山鳥のおとしざし and before 石工の指やぶりたる躑躅哉, with no headnote: 月に遠く覺ゆる藤の色香哉 [3].

1903, printed 1907. 内藤鳴雪, 河東碧梧桐, 高浜虚子, 蕪村遺稿講義, the record of a reading meeting. 鳴雪氏曰: an evening with the wisteria in bloom, まだ全く夜に入らぬ時分, not yet fully night; the moon on one side, the trellis opposite, the poet seeing the flowers lit from the side, 月と藤と作者とは三角形をして居る, moon, wisteria and poet make a triangle; 月がはつきり照して居れば月に近く覺ゆるのであるが、其のはつきりしてゐない所が月に遠く覺ゆるといふ心持であらう, were the moon shining clearly they would seem near it; its unclearness is the feeling of seeming far. 碧梧桐氏曰: the positions do not matter; 其時分其月の光りで見た藤の花の色も香もが一番よい, at that hour, in that moon's light, the wisteria's color and scent are at their best; 「月に遠く覺ゆる」は先生の御說の通り, on the words, as our teacher says. 虛子曰, so printed: no need for dusk; at night the color is blurred in moonlight and seems far, 香が月に遠く覺えるといふのはをかしいが、其は唯調子で色香とつゞけた迄であらう, that the scent should seem far from the moon is odd, but that is no more than the rhythm carrying 色香 along. 鳴、碧、兩氏曰: too extreme and too subjective; some real distance from the moon is felt too, so dusk with an unclear moon is necessary. Then: 尙二三議論ありしが、要するに不完全な句であるといふ論に歸す, after two or three more arguments, the conclusion was that it is an imperfect verse [6].

1904. 佐藤紅緑, 蕪村俳句評釈. 彼れは又た遠景へ遠音及び凡て「遠き」といふ文字に大なる趣味を有せり, he also had a great taste for far views, far sounds, and the word "far" in every use, with this verse among the examples [5].

1906, 1909, 1910. 岩本梓石, 蕪村俳句全集 標註; 鳴雪, 俳句作法; 俳諧三家集. The verse in three collections and manuals without comment, 覺ゆる in two of them [9][7][8].

1920. 木村架空, 蕪村夢物語. A book in which the author dreams that Buson answers the commentaries on his verses. After quoting the 1903 meeting whole, it gives Buson: 藤は梅や櫻の樣に空を仰いで咲くものでなく、棚といふ隔てのある上に、花は下方に垂れて咲くのだから、色も香も月に遠いのは勿論ぢやないか, wisteria does not bloom looking up at the sky like plum or cherry; there is the trellis in between, and the flowers hang downward, so of course their color and scent are far from the moon, against the cherry's blossoms, white and bright, which shine together with the moon. Of the three readers, it says 鳴雪's took the most effort, that 碧梧桐's cannot be made out, and that 虚子's has some sense in it [18].

1921. 長谷川零余子, 蕪村俳句全集 校註解釈. Under 藤, the verse as 月に遠くおぼゆる藤の色香哉 with note 五: 日の暮れる時分に月が仄かに出て居た。その月が明らかなれば藤の花も近くあるやうに感じようが、ぼんやりして居るために遠くにある感じがする、その景色が一番よいとの意, at dusk a faint moon was out; were the moon bright the wisteria would seem near, but because it is dim the flowers seem far, and that scene is the best. The note before it, 三, on a hillside wisteria, belongs to 人なき日藤に培ふ法師かな [10].

1925. 潁原退蔵, 蕪村全集, the scholarly edition. Under 藤, page 59: 目に遠くおほゆる藤の色香哉, tagged (連句會草稿), with the note: 藤の色香のぼんやりとして鮮かならざるが目に遠く思はるゝなり。徒然草に「藤のおぼつかなきさましたる」といふ趣なるべし。この句上五、新五子稿・遺稿に「月に遠く」とあるは誤寫ならむ, the wisteria's color and scent, dim and not vivid, seem far to the eye; it is the spirit of the 徒然草's "wisteria in its uncertain look"; that the first five of this verse read "far from the moon" in the 新五子稿 and the 遺稿 is probably a copyist's error [16]. The appended table of verses by year sets it under 安永九年, 1780, on page 114 [24].

1925 and 1935. 半田良平, 蕪村俳句全集 季題別 and 季題別年代附. Under 藤: うつむけに春うちあけて藤の花 closes the 句集 verses with 右三句、句集, then 月に遠くおぼゆる藤の色香かな (遺稿), then 藤の花あやしき夫婦休みけり [11][12].

1926, 1928. 一茶蕪村名句全集; 蕪村俳句集; the 日本俳書大系 index. The verse in two more collections and an index, おぼゆる in all three [13][14][15].

The dictionaries today. kotobank's page for 与謝蕪村 gives the poet's dates and does not quote the verse [25].

The attribution. Buson's at every witness that names a poet, from the 新五子稿 of 1800, which sets his name beneath it, to Ueda, with no rival [1][17]. The verse belongs to the sessions of 1780 by Ueda's account and 潁原's table [17][24]. It reached print in the 新五子稿 of 1800, and a century later in 水落露石's 遺稿, the source 半田 tags and the 1907 講義 reads [1][3][11][6]. Shiki copied it from the 新五子稿 [4].

What is not a source. The 1907 record is the readers' argument and their verdict, not the poet's intention. The Buson of 1920 is 架空's invention, and his reading is 架空's. 潁原's 目 rests on the session draft as he read it in 1925; the complete works that Ueda cites romanize the verse with 月.

The verse in English

1949 and 1950. R. H. Blyth, Haiku, volume 1, Eastern Culture, page 339; volume 2, Spring, page 102, Hokuseido Press, Tokyo. In the first, among a few verses given as examples: In the moonlight, / The colour and scent of the wistaria / Seem far away. In the second, romanized Tsuki ni toku / oboyuru fuji no / iroka kana and rendered The scent and colour / Of the wistaria / Seem far from the moon, after 都に遠き桃の宿, the capital far away, among Buson's verses with the same feeling of distance. Blyth's only two renderings, and they read the particle two ways [20][21].

1995. Sam Hamill, The Sound of Water: Haiku by Bashō, Buson, Issa, and Other Poets, Shambhala. In pale moonlight / the wisteria's scent / comes from far away [22].

1998. Makoto Ueda, The Path of Flowering Thorn: The Life and Poetry of Yosa Buson, Stanford University Press, page 127. so far from the moon— / the color and fragrance / of wisteria, romaji tsuki ni toku oboyuru fuji no iroka kana, cited to the complete works 1: 461, among the hokku of the 1780 sessions [17].

2007. Lowenstein, Classic Haiku, Watkins, page 138. So distant from the moon — / the colour and scent / of wisteria blossom., under the poet's name [23].

Today. A rendering of this line has one choice to make and cannot avoid it: far from the moon or far, under the moon; Blyth made it both ways.

A reading

I read the verse with 鳴雪 and 碧梧桐 in 1903, whom 零余子 restated in 1921: the faintness of the moon is what makes the flowers seem far, and the verse praises the dimness. 虚子's aside is the philological point worth keeping, that 色香 is one word by rhythm and scent seems far is not to be pressed; Blyth's far from the moon takes the other fork and is a legitimate reading of the particle. 架空's trellis is a good observation laid on a garden wisteria the verse does not name. 潁原's 目 would make the line plainer and take away the crux the meeting argued over; it rests on a draft read once, in 1925, against two prints and a modern edition that read 月, and on that record I take 月 as the text. The attribution and the romaji stand.

References

  1. 嘉会室亨 編『俳諧發句新五子稿』, 寛政12 (1800), Kyoto, 菊舎太兵衛. University of Tokyo, 竹冷文庫 copy, National Institute of Japanese Literature 国書データベース biblio 100392482, canvas 33; 洒竹文庫 copy, biblio 100412076, canvas 32. https://kokusho.nijl.ac.jp/biblio/100392482/33
  2. 嘉会室享 編『新五子稿』, 俳書堂, 1916 (俳諧名著文庫 5). National Diet Library pid 953367, scan 14. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/953367/1/14
  3. 水落露石 編『蕪村遺稿』, 鹿田静七, 1900. National Institute of Japanese Literature 国書データベース biblio 300077399, canvas 12. https://kokusho.nijl.ac.jp/biblio/300077399/12
  4. 正岡子規 写『俳家全集』, 1900, 春草. National Diet Library pid 2546172, scan 89. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/2546172/1/89
  5. 佐藤紅緑『蕪村俳句評釈』, 1904. National Diet Library pid 875716, scan 19. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/875716/1/19
  6. 内藤鳴雪, 河東碧梧桐, 高浜虚子『蕪村遺稿講義』, 1907, pp. 136–138. National Diet Library pid 875701, scans 72–73. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/875701/1/72
  7. 鳴雪『俳句作法』, 1909. National Diet Library pid 875595, scan 23. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/875595/1/23
  8. 『俳諧三家集』, 1910. National Diet Library pid 875352, scan 74. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/875352/1/74
  9. 岩本梓石 編『蕪村俳句全集 標註』, 1906. National Diet Library pid 875714, scan 37. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/875714/1/37
  10. 長谷川零余子 編『蕪村俳句全集 校註解釈』, 1921, pp. 40–41. National Diet Library pid 968346, scan 33. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/968346/1/33
  11. 半田良平 編『蕪村俳句全集 季題別』, 1925, p. 25. National Diet Library pid 964212, scan 19. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/964212/1/19
  12. 半田良平 編『蕪村俳句全集 季題別年代附』, 1935. National Diet Library pid 1090303, scan 17. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1090303/1/17
  13. 『一茶蕪村名句全集』, 1926. National Diet Library pid 968909, scan 23. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/968909/1/23
  14. 『蕪村俳句集』, 1926. National Diet Library pid 1019573, scan 64. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1019573/1/64
  15. 『日本俳書大系』index, 1928. National Diet Library pid 1179400, scan 229. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1179400/1/229
  16. 潁原退蔵 編『蕪村全集』, 1925, p. 59. National Diet Library pid 1018320, scan 57. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1018320/1/57
  17. Makoto Ueda, The Path of Flowering Thorn: The Life and Poetry of Yosa Buson, Stanford University Press, 1998, p. 127.
  18. 木村架空『蕪村夢物語』, 1920. National Diet Library pid 947592, scans 222–223. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/947592/1/222
  19. Donald Keene, trans., Essays in Idleness: The Tsurezuregusa of Kenkō, Columbia University Press, 1967, section 19.
  20. R. H. Blyth, Haiku, vol. 1, Eastern Culture, Hokuseido Press, Tokyo, 1949, p. 339.
  21. R. H. Blyth, Haiku, vol. 2, Spring, Hokuseido Press, Tokyo, 1950, p. 102.
  22. Sam Hamill, The Sound of Water: Haiku by Bashō, Buson, Issa, and Other Poets, Shambhala, 1995.
  23. Tom Lowenstein, Classic Haiku, Watkins, London, 2007, p. 138.
  24. 潁原退蔵 編『蕪村全集』, 1925, 附録 年代別発句集, p. 114. National Diet Library pid 1018320, scan 518. https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1018320/1/518
  25. 「与謝蕪村」, at kotobank. https://kotobank.jp/word/与謝蕪村

Authors

Tim Jackowski (Systems Architect, Takase Studios, LLC) · 典 Ten (Anthropic Claude Fable 5.1, Takase Studios, LLC)

AI written · Ten wrote the history. Tim Jackowski commissioned it and answers for it.

Checked · grok-4.6 (xAI), 2026-09-05, citations · gpt-6-astra (OpenAI), 2026-09-05, citations · Claude Sonnet (Anthropic), 2026-09-14, citations — a couple of corrections made — an undisclosed OCR-versus-eye kana reading on a neighboring verse, and an internal meter miscount

Cite as: Tim Jackowski and Ten, "Philology of 月に遠くおぼゆる藤の色香かな (tsuki ni tōku oboyuru fuji no iroka kana)," Takase Studios, 2026, https://takase.com/library/philology/tsuki-ni-toku-oboyuru-fuji-no-iroka-kana.