Futatsu naki mono to omoishi o minasoko ni yama no ha narade izuru tsukikage - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

二つなきものと思ひしを水底に
山の端ならで出づる月影

Roma-ji: Futatsu naki mono to omoishi o minasoko ni yama no ha narade izuru tsukikage
English Translation: A thing that has
no double, so I believed—
yet in the water's depths,
not from the mountain rim,
the moonlight rises too.
Meaning: I had thought there was no second one, yet here in the depths of the water, not from the rim of the mountains, a moon's light is rising.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 881

Headnote: "Composed on seeing the moon in a pond"
Seeing the moon reflected in a pond, the poet marvels that the moon, which should have no double, rises a second time, not from the mountain rim but from the water's depths. It is a witty poem, typical of Tsurayuki, delighting in the reflected moon as a real scene.
The author, "Ki no Tsurayuki," is Ki no Tsurayuki, son of Ki no Mochiyuki, the leading compiler of the Kokin Wakashū and author of its kana preface. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

First line "futatsu naki" states the common belief that there is only one moon.
Second line "mono to omoishi o" joins the past shi and the adversative o, "though I had thought so"; the line is hypermetric.
Third line "minasoko ni" points to the bottom of the pond where the moon is reflected.
Fourth line "yama no ha narade": narade means "not being," saying this is not the mountain rim where the moon should rise.
Fifth line "izuru tsukikage" ends with a noun, leaving wonder at the moon rising from the depths as a lingering note.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Katsu miredo utoku mo aru kana tsukikage no itaranu sato mo araji to omoeba
Next Poem: Ama no gawa kumo no mio nite hayakereba hikari todomezu tsuki zo nagaruru