Unabara no michi tōmi kamo tsukuyomi no hikari sukunaki yo wa fukenitsutsu

海原の道遠みかも月読の
光少き夜は更けにつつ

Roma-ji: Unabara no michi tōmi kamo tsukuyomi no hikari sukunaki yo wa fukenitsutsu
English Translation: Is it that the road
across the wide sea is long?
The moon god's radiance
is so faint, and all the while
the night grows ever deeper
Meaning: Is it because the road across the wide sea is so long? The moon's light is faint, and all the while the night grows deeper.
Commentary: Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1075

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the Moon"
Watching the night deepen, the poet wonders whether the moon's light is weak because it must travel a long road across the ocean. The poem sees the moon as a traveler on a distant sea route.
Like the opening poem with its "moon's boat," it likens the moon's course to a path over the sea, and the image echoes through the group of poems on the moon. The poet is unknown.

The first line, "across the wide sea," names the broad ocean, the stage for the conceit of the moon crossing the sea.
In the second line, "Is it that the road is long?" "tōmi" is the stem of "tōshi" (far) with the suffix "mi," meaning "because it is far," and "kamo" poses a question about the cause of the faint light. The poem pauses after the second line.
The third line, "The moon god's radiance," uses "Tsukuyomi," the deified name of the moon, here simply meaning the moon.
The fourth line, "is so faint," says that the moon's light does not fully reach the earth.
In the final line, "the night grows ever deeper," "tsutsu" expresses continuation, describing with a lingering tone how the night gradually deepens.
Source: Manyoshu
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