Haruru yo no hashi ka kawabe no hotaru kamo waga sumu kata no ama no taku hi ka - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

晴るる夜のはしか河辺の蛍かも
わが住む方の海人の焚く火か

Roma-ji: Haruru yo no hashi ka kawabe no hotaru kamo waga sumu kata no ama no taku hi ka
English Translation: On a cloudless night—
is it stars, or by the river
fireflies aglow,
or near the place where I live
fires the fisherfolk have lit?
Meaning: On a clear night—are those stars, or fireflies by the river? Or are they the fires the fisherfolk burn near where I live?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1591

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Topic unknown."
This is the second poem of the sequence on the salt-burning and fires of the fisherfolk. The poet sees lights on a clear night and cannot tell whether they are stars, fireflies along the river, or the fires of fisherfolk near where he lives. The headnote gives the topic as unknown and records nothing of the circumstances.
The author, continuing from the preceding poem, is Ariwara no Narihira. A son of Prince Abo, son of Emperor Heizei, he was one of the Six Poetic Immortals.
In Episode 87 of The Tales of Ise, the poem is recorded as composed by the man on his way home from viewing the Nunobiki Falls, upon seeing the fishing fires.

The first line, "haruru yo no," means "on a clear night," first presenting a cloudless night sky.
The second line, "hashi ka kawabe no," reads "hashi ka" in this text, but the same poem in The Tales of Ise has "hoshi ka," "is it a star," and it is understood in that sense here. "Ka" poses a question, and with "kawabe no," "along the river," the poem moves at once to the next comparison.
In the third line, "hotaru kamo," "kamo" also poses a question. The likening of lights descends from stars in the sky to fireflies by the river.
The fourth line, "waga sumu kata no," means "near where I live." The gaze moves step by step from the distant sky toward the poet's own surroundings.
The last line, "ama no taku hi ka," means "or the fires the fisherfolk burn." Repeating the question three times, "ka," "kamo," "ka," the poem depicts night lights that cannot be told apart. Following the "salt-burner" of the preceding poem, the fires of the fisherfolk are sung here.
Author: Ariwara no Narihira
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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