Akanesasu hi wa teraseredo nubatama no yo wataru tsuki no kakuraku oshi mo

あかねさす日は照らせれどぬばたまの
夜渡る月の隠らく惜しも

Roma-ji: Akanesasu hi wa teraseredo nubatama no yo wataru tsuki no kakuraku oshi mo
English Translation: Though the madder-red
sun shines on in all its light,
the moon that crosses
the jet-black night—how I grieve
that it has hidden itself away.
Meaning: Though the red-glowing sun still shines, how I grieve that the moon crossing the black night has gone into hiding.
Commentary: Book Two Elegies 169

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems composed by Kakinomoto no Asomi Hitomaro at the time of the temporary enshrinement of Prince Hinamishi, two envoys"
The sun still shines, but the moon crossing the night sky has hidden itself; the poem is taken to liken the sun to Empress Jitō and the vanished moon to Prince Kusakabe, mourning his death.
These are elegies Kakinomoto no Hitomaro composed during the temporary enshrinement of Prince Kusakabe, when his body lay in state before burial. The long poem 167 is a major work that begins from the myth of the creation of heaven and earth and goes on to mourn the prince's death. Prince Kusakabe, son of Emperor Tenmu and Empress Jitō, died as Crown Prince in the third year of Jitō's reign (689) and was honored as Hinamishi no Miko no Mikoto. This is the second of the two envoys attached to that long poem. A left note says that another text treats this as an envoy for the temporary enshrinement of the later prince, that is, Prince Takechi.
The author, Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu. A master of the long poem and the elegy, he is the representative poet of the Man'yōshū and was later revered as the Saint of Poetry.

The first line, "akanesasu," is a pillow word for hi, "sun."
In the second line, "hi wa teraseredo," do is concessive: though the sun shines. The sun is taken to be Empress Jitō.
The third line, "nubatama no," is a pillow word for yo, "night."
The fourth line, "yo wataru tsuki no," means "of the moon that crosses the night," taken to be Prince Kusakabe. Sun and moon, day and night, form a pair across the second and fourth lines.
In the final line, "kakuraku oshi mo," kakuraku is the nominalized form of kakuru: the moon's hiding is to be regretted. Like the preceding poem, it closes with "oshi mo."
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
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