Yomosugara tsuki koso sode ni yadorikere mukashi no aki o omoiizureba - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

夜もすがら月こそ袖に宿りけれ
昔の秋を思ひ出づれば

Roma-ji: Yomosugara tsuki koso sode ni yadorikere mukashi no aki o omoiizureba
English Translation: All the long night through,
it was the moon that came
to lodge upon my sleeves,
as I lay thinking once again
of the autumns of the past.
Meaning: All night long it was the moon that lodged on my sleeves, as I remembered the autumns of long ago.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1533

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the third poem of the sequence reflecting on oneself through the moon. As the poet remembers the autumns of long ago, the moon lodges all night on his tear-wet sleeves. The headnote continues from the preceding poem, "topic unknown," and records nothing of the circumstances of composition.
The author, "Saigyō Hōshi," had the lay name Satō Norikiyo. He served Retired Emperor Toba as a warrior of the North Guard, but took the tonsure at twenty-three and traveled through the provinces, leaving many poems. No author's name is given in the text; the poem follows the author of the preceding poem.

The first line, "yomosugara," means "all night long." It shows the length of the night spent thinking of the past.
In the second line, "tsuki koso sode ni," "koso" is a binding particle, closed by "kere" in the third line. It singles out the moon.
The third line, "yadorikere," closes the kakari-musubi of the particle "koso" with the perfective form "kere." It says that the moon was reflected on his tear-wet sleeves, and the poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "mukashi no aki o," takes up "inishie no aki" of the preceding poem.
The last line, "omoiizureba," adds "ba" to the perfective form to state a fixed condition: "as I remember." Placing the reason last in inverted order, it takes up the heart that met again the autumn of long ago in the preceding poem, and makes that memory turn to tears that lodge the moon on his sleeves.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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