Tsuki tachite tada mikazuki no mayone kaki kenagaku koishi kimi ni aeru kamo

月立ちてただ三日月の眉根掻き
日長く恋ひし君に逢へるかも

Roma-ji: Tsuki tachite tada mikazuki no mayone kaki kenagaku koishi kimi ni aeru kamo
English Translation: The month has begun,
and like the slender third-day moon
my brows I scratched—
you whom I long days have loved,
at last I have met you now
Meaning: The month has just begun, and I scratched my brows, slender as the third-day moon; and now I have met you, whom I have loved and longed for these many days.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 993

Headnote: "A poem on the new moon by the same Lady Sakanoue"
This poem rejoices that after the poet scratched her eyebrows, shaped like the crescent of the third day of the new month, she was able to meet the one she had long been yearning for. It draws on the popular belief of the time that itchy eyebrows foretold a meeting with one's beloved, and overlaps the crescent moon in the sky with a woman's brows.
"New moon" in the headnote means the crescent moon, and the poem was composed on the crescent as a set topic. "The same Lady Sakanoue" indicates that the author is the same as that of the preceding poem, 992. Though composed on a given theme, it vividly portrays the joy of reunion with a lover.
The poet, Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue, was a daughter of Ōtomo no Yasumaro and a half-sister of Ōtomo no Tabito. She was named after the village of Sakanoue where she lived; she acted as guardian to her nephew Ōtomo no Yakamochi, and her daughter Sakanoue no Ōiratsume later became Yakamochi's wife. She is one of the leading women poets of the Man'yōshū.

This poem and the next, 994, are both titled "a poem on the new moon," and form a pair in which Lady Sakanoue and her nephew Ōtomo no Yakamochi each liken the crescent to eyebrows. This poem tells of scratching one's own brows and meeting a lover, while the next tells of seeing the crescent and recalling the brows of someone glimpsed only once, reversing the roles of the one who has met and the one who still yearns.
The first line, "The month has begun," means that a new month has started. "Tsuki tatsu" refers to the beginning of a month.
The second line, "and like the slender third-day moon," means "like a moon only three days old." It shows both the brief time since the month began and the thin shape of the crescent, serving as a simile for "brows" in the third line.
The third line, "my brows I scratched," depicts the gesture of scratching one's eyebrows. Itchy brows were a sign of meeting a lover, and here the speaker scratches them herself, hoping for that omen. The first two lines work as a preface leading to "brows."
The fourth line, "you whom I long days have loved," means "you whom I have yearned for over many days." The few days of "the third-day moon" in the second line are set against the long time of loving "long days."
The final line, "at last I have met you now," uses "kamo" to express emotion. The poem closes with joy that the omen of the scratched brows has come true.
Author: Lady Ōtomo no Sakanoue
Source: Manyoshu
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