Furisakete mikazuki mireba hitome mishi hito no mayobiki omōyuru kamo

振り放けて三日月見れば一目見し
人の眉引き思ほゆるかも

Roma-ji: Furisakete mikazuki mireba hitome mishi hito no mayobiki omōyuru kamo
English Translation: Lifting up my eyes,
when I gaze on the new moon,
one I saw but once—
the arching line of her brows
comes back to me unbidden
Meaning: When I lift my eyes and gaze at the crescent moon, the arched brows of someone I saw only once come back to my mind.
Commentary: Book Six Miscellaneous Poems 994

Headnote: "A poem on the new moon by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi"
This poem tells how, looking up at the slender crescent moon, the poet recalls the beautifully drawn brows of someone he saw only once. Likening the crescent to a woman's eyebrows, it entrusts a faint longing for a person seen but once to the moon in the sky.
Like the preceding poem, 993, this poem takes "the new moon" as its topic, and it is placed beside the poem of his aunt, Lady Sakanoue. It is thought to have been composed around Tenpyō 5 (733), when Yakamochi was in his mid-teens, and is known as a poem of his youth.
The poet, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was the son of Ōtomo no Tabito and an official and poet of the Nara period. He later served as governor of Etchū, junior counselor, and assistant minister of military affairs, among other posts, and rose to the rank of middle counselor. He is thought to have been deeply involved in the compilation of the Man'yōshū.

Where the preceding poem, 993, sang of the joy of meeting a lover after scratching one's own crescent-like brows, this poem recalls the brows of someone glimpsed once upon seeing the crescent. The same likening of the crescent moon to eyebrows is used, but the roles of the one who has met and the one who still yearns are reversed. A little later, in 998, the mountains of Awa are also described as being "like eyebrows," continuing the image.
The first line, "Lifting up my eyes," means looking up into the distance. "Furisake miru" expresses the act of gazing up at something far away, and here the poet's eyes turn toward the crescent in the sky.
The second line, "when I gaze on the new moon," uses "mireba" as a definite condition. The act of seeing becomes the trigger that leads to the memory in the lower verse.
The third line, "one I saw but once," means "whom I saw only a single time." "Shi" is the attributive form of the past auxiliary "ki," showing that it was a meeting of only a moment.
The fourth line, "the arching line of her brows," means the shape of that person's eyebrows. "Mayobiki" refers to fine, beautiful brows as if drawn with brow ink, and it is overlapped with the thin arc of the crescent moon.
The final line, "comes back to me unbidden," means "is naturally recalled." "Omohoyu" describes something that comes to mind of its own accord, and "kamo" expresses emotion. The poem closes with a face that returns without being summoned.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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