Sumu hito mo aru ka naki ka no yado narashi ashima no tsuki no moru ni makasete - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

すむ人もあるかなきかの宿ならし
蘆間の月の漏るにまかせて

Roma-ji: Sumu hito mo aru ka naki ka no yado narashi ashima no tsuki no moru ni makasete
English Translation: Here, it seems, is a house
where whether someone lives or not
one can hardly tell—
the moon through the reeds is left
to seep in just as it will.
Meaning: This must be a house where one can hardly tell whether anyone lives—the moonlight through the reeds is left to seep in as it will.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1530

Headnote: "When people composed poems at my house on the spirit of 'The Moon Shining on Water.'"
This is the tenth and last poem of the sequence on the moon lingering at dawn. Since the moonlight through the reeds is left to seep in and shine on the water, the poet says, this must be a house where one cannot tell whether anyone lives. According to the headnote, it was composed when people at his house composed poems on the topic "The Moon Shining on Water."
The author, "Major Counselor Tsunenobu," was the son of Provisional Middle Counselor Minamoto no Michikata. He rose to Major Counselor and in his last years died at his post as Provisional Governor-General of Dazaifu. He was the father of Minamoto no Toshiyori.
"The Moon Shining on Water" is a topic on the moon shining on water.

In the first line, "sumu hito mo," "sumu" plays on "sumu," to dwell, and "sumu," for the moon or water to be clear. It overlays whether anyone dwells there with the clear water and moon.
The second line, "aru ka naki ka no," means "whether there is or is not." It takes up the house where no one comes and the house without a human shadow of the two preceding poems.
In the third line, "yado narashi," "rashi" expresses an inference based on evidence. It presents the last lines as its grounds, and the poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "ashima no tsuki no," refers to the moon seen through the reeds growing in a garden pond or the like. It presents the "water" of the topic as a reedy waterside.
The last line, "moru ni makasete," means "leaving it to seep in." Though the word "ariake" does not appear, it sings of moonlight seeping into an untended house, taking up the moon over desolate houses in the two preceding poems and closing the sequence.
Author: Minamoto no Tsunenobu
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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