Tanomezu wa hito wa matsuchi no yama nari to nenamashi mono o isayoi no tsuki - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

頼めずは人はまつちの山なりと
寝なましものをいさよひの月

Roma-ji: Tanomezu wa hito wa matsuchi no yama nari to nenamashi mono o isayoi no tsuki
English Translation: Had you not promised,
though it be the Mountain
of Waiting for you,
I would surely have gone to sleep—
O moon rising slow and late
Meaning: Had you not promised to come, I would have gone to sleep, even were this Matsuchi, the Mountain of Waiting. O moon of the sixteenth night, you who rise so hesitantly.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 1197

Headnote: "Composed as a love poem."
This is the first poem of a sequence on nights spent waiting for one who does not come. Had the lover not promised, he would have gone to sleep, even on Matsuchi, the Mountain of Waiting—so he says to the moon of the sixteenth night. According to the headnote, it was composed as a love poem.
The author, "Retired Emperor," is Go-Toba-in. A son of Emperor Takakura, he ruled as retired emperor after abdicating and ordered the compilation of the Shinkokinshū.
Mount Matsuchi is a famous poetic place on the border of Yamato and Kii provinces, sung with a pun on "matsu," "to wait." The conception takes as its source Akazome Emon's poem: "Without hesitating / I'd have gone to sleep, but the night / grew late, and I watched / the moon until it sank / low toward the west."

The first line, "tanomezu wa," means "had you not promised." "Tanomu" in its lower bigrade conjugation means "to make someone rely." Taking up "tanomeshi" of 1194 of this book, it sets out the premise that one waits precisely because there was a promise.
In the second line, "hito wa matsuchi no," "matsuchi" is a pivot word meaning both "waiting for someone" and Mount Matsuchi.
The third line, "yama nari to," means "even if it be a mountain," a concessive supposition: even a mountain whose name means waiting.
The fourth line, "nenamashi mono o," means "I would have gone to sleep." "Mashi" is counterfactual, answering "tanomezu wa" in the first line. It uses exactly the fourth line of Akazome Emon's source poem.
The last line, "isayoi no tsuki," ends on a noun, addressing the moon of the sixteenth night. That moon rises late, as if hesitating, and one who cannot sleep because of the promise watches it rise. Where Akazome Emon's poem is that of a woman who waited until the moon sank, this poem focuses on the heart that relies on a promise.
Author: Go-Toba In
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Ajikinaku tsuraki arashi no koe mo ushi nado yūgure ni machinaraiken
Next Poem: Nani yue to omoi mo irenu yūbe dani machiideshi mono o yama no ha no tsuki