Itsuka ware koke no tamoto ni tsuyu okite shiranu yamaji no tsuki o mirubeki - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いつか我苔の袂に露置きて
知らぬ山路の月を見るべき

Roma-ji: Itsuka ware koke no tamoto ni tsuyu okite shiranu yamaji no tsuki o mirubeki
English Translation: When will I, one day,
on the sleeves of mossy robes
with the dew set down,
upon an unknown mountain path
gaze out at the moon?
Meaning: When will the day come that I, with dew upon the sleeves of a mossy robe, gaze at the moon along some unknown mountain path?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1664

Headnote: "When Saigyō Hōshi urged poets to compose hundred-poem sequences."
This is the first poem of a sequence on mountain dwellings and mountain paths. The poet longs for the day when, with dew on the sleeves of a mossy robe, he will gaze at the moon on an unknown mountain path, expressing a yearning to take vows. According to the headnote, it was from a hundred-poem sequence composed at Saigyō's urging.
The author, "Ietaka Ason," was a son of Fujiwara no Mitsutaka and one of the compilers of the Shin Kokinshū. He studied poetry under Fujiwara no Shunzei.
The hundred-poem sequences Saigyō urged others to compose at Ise are called the Futami Bay Hundred-Poem Sequences, and the young Teika and Ietaka responded to them.

The first line, "itsuka ware," means "when will I." "Ka" is an interrogative particle.
The second line, "koke no tamoto ni," means "on the sleeves of a monk's robe." Taking up "koke no koromo" of the preceding poem, it refers to the robe of one who has taken vows.
The third line, "tsuyu okite," means "with dew set down," layering the dew of the mountain path with the dew of tears.
The fourth line, "shiranu yamaji no," means "of a mountain path not yet known."
The last line, "tsuki o mirubeki," closes the kakari-musubi of "ka" with "beki," the attributive form of "beshi." It longs for the day of seeing the moon on a mountain path as a monk. The mossy robe of the one secluded at Kumano in the preceding poem is here sung as the poet's own wish.
Author: Fujiwara no Ietaka
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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