Yomosugara hitori miyama no maki no ha ni kumoru mo sumeru ariake no tsuki - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

夜もすがらひとりみ山の真木の葉に
曇るも澄める有明の月

Roma-ji: Yomosugara hitori miyama no maki no ha ni kumoru mo sumeru ariake no tsuki
English Translation: All the long night through,
alone I watch, in deep hills,
through the cedar leaves—
clouded, yet shining clear,
the moon lingering at dawn.
Meaning: All night long I watch alone in the deep mountains, through the leaves of the cedars, the dawn moon—clouded over, and yet shining clear.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1523

Headnote: "On the topic 'The Dawn Moon in the Deep Mountains,' at a poetry contest of the Bureau of Poetry."
This is the third poem of the sequence on the moon lingering at dawn. It sings of the dawn moon, watched alone all night in the deep mountains, clouded behind the cedar leaves and yet shining clear. According to the headnote, it was composed at a poetry contest of the Bureau of Poetry on the topic "The Dawn Moon in the Deep Mountains."
The author, "Kamo no Chōmei," was the son of Kamo no Nagatsugu, a priest of the Kamo Mioya Shrine. He became a Fellow of the Bureau of Poetry and later took the tonsure and wrote Hōjōki.
"The Dawn Moon in the Deep Mountains" is a topic on the moon at daybreak in deep mountains.

The first line, "yomosugara," means "all night long." It shows the length of the night spent watching the moon.
In the second line, "hitori miyama no," "mi" plays on "miru," to see alone, and the "mi" of "miyama," deep mountains. It lays together in one word the figure of watching the moon alone in the deep mountains.
The third line, "maki no ha ni," refers to the leaves of evergreen trees such as cedar and cypress. It shows the deep-mountain trees that block the moonlight.
The fourth line, "kumoru mo sumeru," means "though clouded, it is clear." Setting the contrary words "clouded" and "clear" side by side, it captures the moon seen through the leaves.
The last line, "ariake no tsuki," ends on a noun. Following the moon hard to see through the pines in the preceding poem, it sings of the dawn moon seen through cedar leaves, praising its clear light amid the obscurity.
Author: Kamo no Chomei
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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