Tsukikage no yama no ha wakete kakurenaba somuku ukiyo o ware ya nagamen - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

月影の山の端分けて隠れなば
背く憂き世を我やながめん

Roma-ji: Tsukikage no yama no ha wakete kakurenaba somuku ukiyo o ware ya nagamen
English Translation: If, like the moonlight
parting the rim of the hills,
you should hide away,
must I gaze alone upon
the sad world that you forsake?
Meaning: If you hide yourself away like the moon passing behind the mountain rim, must I gaze alone upon this sorrowful world that you forsake?
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1500

Headnote: "On seeing that Junior Counselor Fujiwara no Munemasa, who had served him closely for many years, seemed resolved to renounce the world, when he was still called Crown Prince."
This is the second poem of the sequence on the moon. If you should hide yourself in the mountains as the moon hides behind the mountain rim, the emperor asks, must I alone gaze on the sorrowful world you forsake? According to the headnote, it was composed while Sanjō was still Crown Prince, on seeing that Junior Counselor Fujiwara no Munemasa, who had served him for many years, had resolved to take the tonsure.
The author, "the Poem of Retired Emperor Sanjō," is Emperor Sanjō. A son of Emperor Reizei, he ascended the throne after a long time as Crown Prince, but suffered from an eye ailment and abdicated after about five years.
"Junior Counselor Fujiwara no Munemasa" in the headnote served Sanjō while he was Crown Prince and later took the tonsure.

The first line, "tsukikage no," refers to the moonlight or the moon's form. It likens Munemasa, about to take the tonsure, to the moon.
The second line, "yama no ha wakete," describes the moon setting as it parts the ridge of the hills. It overlays entering the mountains as a renunciant.
The third line, "kakurenaba," adds "ba" to "na," the imperfective form of the perfective auxiliary, as a supposition: "if you should hide." Like "kumogakurenishi" in the preceding poem, it overlays parting from a person on the moon's hiding.
The fourth line, "somuku ukiyo o," refers to the sorrowful world that Munemasa turns his back on and forsakes.
The last line, "ware ya nagamen," closes the kakari-musubi of the particle "ya" with the attributive form "n." It expresses regret at the parting, asking whether he who is left behind must spend his days gazing on this sorrowful world.
Author: Retired Emperor Sanjo
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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