Teru tsuki o yumihari to shimo iu koto wa yamabe o sashite ireba narikeri

English Translation

That we call the bright
moon a drawn bow is because
it takes aim at the
rim of the mountains, and then
looses itself, and goes in

Meaning

We call the bright moon a drawn bow because it takes aim at the mountain rim and then looses itself, and goes in.

Commentary

132 The Moon Like a Drawn Bow

In the same reign of Emperor Daigo, Ōshikōchi no Mitsune was summoned; and on a night when the moon was very beautiful, with music being made, the emperor said that the moon was sometimes called a drawn bow, and asked on what thought that rested, bidding him give the reason in a poem. Kneeling at the foot of the steps, Mitsune offered "Teru tsuki o yumihari to shimo iu koto wa yamabe o sashite ireba narikeri". He was then given a robe as a reward for the poem, and on that robe he composed "Shirakumo no kono kata ni shimo oriiru wa amatsukaze koso fukite kitsurashi". That is the whole of the section.
Ōshikōchi no Mitsune was one of the compilers of the Kokin-shū and is counted among the thirty-six poetic immortals; he presents a poem to the Teiji retired emperor in the thirty-third section. Emperor Daigo appears in the hundred and thirty-first section as the late emperor.
The setting is the palace, on a night of beautiful moonlight with music being made.
What prompted the poem was the emperor's question about why the moon is called a drawn bow, and his command to answer in verse. Mitsune knelt at the foot of the steps to deliver it.
Afterwards he was given a robe, and made the next poem on that robe.

The opening, with an emphatic particle, takes up the name: the moon called a drawn bow. The half moon was so called for its likeness to a bow with the string set.
The second line receives the question of where the name comes from.
What follows says that it takes aim at the mountain rim as it sets; the verb for aiming covers both pointing and shooting, and the verb for setting covers both the moon going down and an arrow going home.
The closing has the tone of something understood: so that is it. The name was given for a shape, and he explains it instead by an action. Asked where a word comes from, he answers that it is an accurate description of a movement — a poem made to answer on the spot.

Source

Yamato Monogatari

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