Kumo o nomi tsuraki mono tote akasu yo no tsuki yo kozue ni ochikata no yama - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

雲をのみつらきものとて明かす夜の
月よ梢にをちかたの山

Roma-ji: Kumo o nomi tsuraki mono tote akasu yo no tsuki yo kozue ni ochikata no yama
English Translation: Only the clouds, I thought,
were the cruel ones, as I passed
the night till dawn—O moon,
now there in the treetops, and
now on the far-off mountain!
Meaning: All night I thought only the clouds were cruel for hiding you—yet now, O moon, you hang in the treetops, sinking toward the distant hills.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1548

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the spirit of 'The Moon at Dawn,' at the Kasuga Shrine Poetry Contest."
This is the second poem of the sequence on the moon at dawn. The poet passed the night thinking only the clouds that hide the moon were cruel, but now the dawn moon hangs in the treetops and sinks toward the distant hills. The headnote continues from the preceding poem: it was composed at the Kasuga Shrine Poetry Contest on the topic "The Moon at Dawn."
The author, "Major Captain of the Right Tadatsune," was the son of Fujiwara no Kanemasa. He became Major Captain of the Right Palace Guards and later rose to Minister of the Right.
The Kasuga Shrine Poetry Contest was a poetry contest that Retired Emperor Go-Toba dedicated to Kasuga Shrine in Genkyū 1 (1204).

The first line, "kumo o nomi," means "only the clouds." It first takes up the clouds as what hides the moon.
The second line, "tsuraki mono tote," means "as the cruel ones." It shows that he had thought the clouds alone kept him from seeing the moon.
The third line, "akasu yo no," means "of the night I passed till dawn," modifying "tsuki" in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "tsuki yo kozue ni," addresses the moon, showing it now hanging in the treetops. Besides the clouds, the treetops too become something that hides the moon.
The last line, "ochikata no yama," ends on a noun. It shows the moon about to sink behind the distant hills beyond the treetops, expressing in a trailing, unfinished form the dawn realization that not only clouds but treetops and mountains too hide the moon. It takes up the moon lingering between the clouds in the preceding poem.
Author: Fujiwara no Tadatsune
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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