Moshio kumu sode no tsukikage onozukara yoso ni akasanu Suma no urabito - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

藻塩汲む袖の月影おのづから
よそに明かさぬ須磨の浦人

Roma-ji: Moshio kumu sode no tsukikage onozukara yoso ni akasanu Suma no urabito
English Translation: The moonlight falls on
the sleeves of those who draw brine
for salt, and of itself
it makes them not pass the night apart—
folk of the bay of Suma.
Meaning: The moonlight lodged on the sleeves of those who draw brine for salt means that, of itself, the folk of Suma Bay never pass the night apart from it.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1557

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the topic 'The Moon at the Seashore,' at a poetry contest of the Bureau of Poetry."
This is the fourth poem of the sequence on the moon at the seashore. Because the moon is reflected on their brine-wet sleeves, the folk of Suma Bay naturally do not treat the moon as something apart, but pass the night with it. The headnote continues from the preceding poem: it was composed at a poetry contest of the Bureau of Poetry on the topic "The Moon at the Seashore."
The author, "Teika Ason," was the son of Fujiwara no Shunzei. He was one of the compilers of the Shin Kokinshū and later compiled the Shin Chokusenshū alone.
Suma is a famous place in Settsu, known as the place where Ariwara no Yukihira and the Shining Genji of The Tale of Genji lived in lonely exile. Since Yukihira's poem in the Kokin Wakashū, "Wakuraba ni / tou hito araba / Suma no ura ni / moshio taretsutsu / wabu to kotae yo" ("If by chance anyone should ask, tell them I live forlorn at Suma Bay, dripping brine for salt"), brine and tears have been sung together.

The first line, "moshio kumu," refers to drawing seawater to make salt. It shows the work of the fisherfolk of Suma Bay.
The second line, "sode no tsukikage," refers to the moonlight reflected on sleeves wet with seawater. Since Yukihira's poem, dripping brine has suggested tears.
The third line, "onozukara," means "of itself, naturally."
The fourth line, "yoso ni akasanu," means "not passing the night treating it as something apart." Because the moon lodges on their sleeves, the fisherfolk end up passing the night with the moon.
The last line, "Suma no urabito," ends on a noun. Setting Suma Bay after Waka Bay in the preceding poem, it says the moon lodges even on the sleeves of those who work by the sea, singing of the moon over a lonely bay.
Author: Fujiwara no Teika
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Waka no ura ni tsuki no ideshio no sasu mama ni yoru naku tsuru no koe zo kanashiki
Next Poem: Akashigata iro naki hito no sode o miyo suzuro ni tsuki mo yadoru mono ka wa