今来むと

言ひしばかりに

長月の

有明の月を

待ち出でつるかな

そせいほうし

いまこんと

いいしばかりに

ながつきの

ありあけのつきを

まちいでつるかな

The Monk Sosei

Just because you said

you were coming right away,

Should I have waited for you

Till the moon of dawn

Of this long October month?

The Monk Sosei (816 - 910), born Yoshimine no Harutoshi, son of Henjo (poem 12), was a waka poet and officer of the palace guard before he became a Buddhist priest. He is one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

作者略伝と語釈

Hokusai

Sosei by Shojo Shokado

There are different interpretations of this poem, because the gender of the persons is not indicated. Some believe the speaker of the poem, the person who is waiting, is a woman. Others think it was the man who was waiting. It seems to me that the above print suggests the woman is waiting at home, looking out of the window, while the man led by a peasant with torches is going the other way towards the temple bell.

The ninth month of the lunar calendar would be October, and the date would have been about the 21st, when the moon is waning.