Amagomori mikasa no yama o takami kamo tsuki no idekonu yo wa kutachitsutsu

雨隠り御笠の山を高みかも
月の出で来ぬ夜はくたちつつ

Roma-ji: Amagomori mikasa no yama o takami kamo tsuki no idekonu yo wa kutachitsutsu
English Translation: Rain-sheltered, they say,
Mount Mikasa stands so high—
is that why, I wonder,
the moon has not yet come out,
though the night wears on and on
Meaning: Is it because Mount Mikasa is so high that the moon has not yet risen, though the night keeps wearing on?
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 980

Headnote: "A poem on the moon by Abe no Asomi Mushimaro"
The poem waits impatiently for the moonrise, wondering whether it is because Mount Mikasa is so high that the moon does not come out though the night wears on. In this book, from this poem, 980, through 987, eight poems on the moon by different poets are arranged in succession. This is the first of them, opening the sequence with the heart that waits for the moon to rise.
Mount Mikasa rises to the east of the Nara capital, and was familiar to the people of the capital as the mountain from which the moon came up. In guessing that the height of the mountain delays the moonrise, the poem reveals impatience.
The poet, Abe no Mushimaro, was an official of the Nara period whose mother and the mother of Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue were sisters, making the two cousins.

The next poem, 981, takes up this poem's third line with the same "is that why ... so high" in "Takamato mountain is so high," singing the same idea, that the moon is late because the mountain is high, but moving from Mount Mikasa to Mount Takamato. The last poem of the sequence, 987, sings of the same Mount Mikasa, answering that the moon which did not come out was in fact hidden behind it, so that the beginning and end of the sequence echo each other.
The first line, "Rain-sheltered, they say," is the pillow word "amagomori," which modifies "Mikasa." From the sense of staying indoors because of rain, or hiding from the rain under a hat (kasa), it leads into Mikasa, which contains the sound "kasa."
The second line, "Mount Mikasa stands so high," refers to Mount Mikasa east of the Nara capital. Followed by "takami," it means "because the mountain is high."
The third line, "is that why, I wonder," means "is it because it is high?" "Takami" adds "mi" to the adjective "takashi" to express a reason, and "kamo" expresses doubt. The speaker is guessing at why the moon does not appear.
The fourth line, "the moon has not yet come out," responds to "kamo" in the third line and closes with "nu," the attributive form of the negative auxiliary "zu."
The final line, "though the night wears on and on," means the night is gradually growing late. "Kutatsu" means to pass its height and decline, and "tsutsu" expresses continuation. It leaves as an aftertaste the frustration of the moon not rising as time goes by.
Author: Abe no Mushimaro
Source: Manyoshu
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