Karitaka no takamato yama o takami kamo idekuru tsuki no osoku teruramu

狩高の高円山を高みかも
出で来る月の遅く照るらむ

Roma-ji: Karitaka no takamato yama o takami kamo idekuru tsuki no osoku teruramu
English Translation: Hunting-high, they say,
Takamato mountain stands—
is it that so high,
the moon that comes rising up
is so slow to shed its light?
Meaning: Is it because Mount Takamato is so high that the rising moon is so slow to shine?
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 981

Headnote: "Three poems on the moon by Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue"
The poem wonders at the slowness of the moonrise, asking whether it is because Mount Takamato is so high that the rising moon is slow to shine. In this book, from 980 through 987, eight poems on the moon by different poets are arranged in succession. This is the first of Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue's three moon poems and the second poem of the sequence.
Mount Takamato lies to the southeast of the Nara capital, continuing south from Mount Kasuga, and was viewed from the capital as a mountain from which the moon rose. Guessing that the height of the mountain delays the moonrise, the poem reveals the heart that waits impatiently for the moon.
The poet, Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue, was a daughter of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and a half-sister of Tabito. She was the aunt of her nephew Ōtomo no Yakamochi, and later her daughter, Lady Sakanoue the Elder, became Yakamochi's wife.

Answering "Mount Mikasa stands so high, is that why" in the preceding poem, 980, this poem uses the same third line in "Takamato mountain ... is it that so high," singing the same idea that the moon is late because the mountain is high, but moving from Mount Mikasa to Mount Takamato. Where the preceding poem sang of a moon that has not yet come out, this poem sings of "the moon that comes rising up" but is "slow to shed its light," so the stage of the moonrise has advanced one step.
The first line, "Hunting-high, they say," is a phrase that leads into "Takamato." It is said to derive from hunts held on the moor of Takamato, and is understood either as a place name or as a pillow word.
The second line, "Takamato mountain stands," refers to Mount Takamato southeast of the Nara capital. Followed by "takami," it means "because the mountain is high."
The third line, "is it that so high," means "is it because it is high?" "Kamo" is an interrogative binding particle resolved by "ramu" in the final line. It is the same line as in the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "the moon that comes rising up," shows that the moon has already begun to appear at the rim of the mountain.
The final line, "is so slow to shed its light?" means "it must be shining late," closing in the attributive form of the present-conjectural auxiliary "ramu" in response to the binding particle "kamo" in the third line. It holds the longing for the moonlight to grow full.
Author: Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
Source: Manyoshu
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