Tanomekoshi hito o Matsuchi no yamakaze ni sayo fukeshikaba tsuki mo iriniki - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

頼めこし人をまつちの山風に
さ夜更けしかば月も入りにき

Roma-ji: Tanomekoshi hito o Matsuchi no yamakaze ni sayo fukeshikaba tsuki mo iriniki
English Translation: Waiting for the one
who had promised he would come,
in Matsuchi's mountain wind
the night grew late, and so
the moon too went in to rest.
Meaning: Waiting for the one who promised to come, the night grew late in the mountain wind of Matsuchi, and so the moon, too, went in behind the hills.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1518

Headnote: "When Yoshinobu Ason resented not being able to meet a woman who lived near Mount Matsuchi in Yamato, whom he visited late at night."
This is the fifth poem of the sequence thinking of others through the moon. While she waited for the one who promised to come, the night grew late in the mountain wind of Matsuchi, and even the moon set behind the hills. According to the headnote, Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu visited a woman living near Mount Matsuchi in Yamato late at night and resented not being able to meet her, and she answered with this poem.
The author is "anonymous," and the name has not come down to us.
"Yoshinobu Ason" in the headnote is Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu, who as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber took part in compiling the Gosen Wakashū. Mount Matsuchi is a mountain on the border of Yamato and Kii, sung as a famous place in poetry.

The first line, "tanomekoshi," means "who had led me to rely on him." It points to Yoshinobu, who promised to visit and came late.
In the second line, "hito o Matsuchi no," "matsuchi" plays on "matsu," to wait for someone, and the place name Matsuchi.
The third line, "yamakaze ni," refers to the mountain wind blowing on Mount Matsuchi. It shows the loneliness of waiting.
The fourth line, "sayo fukeshikaba," adds "ba" to the perfective form of the past "ki" to state a fixed condition: "because the night grew late." "Sa" is a prefix that smooths the rhythm.
The last line, "tsuki mo iriniki," means "the moon too went in." Overlaying the moon's setting with her own going in to bed, tired of waiting, it retorts that their failure to meet was the fault of the one who came late.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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