Hisakata no ama teru tsuki wa kamiyo ni ka idekaeru ramu toshi wa henitsutsu

ひさかたの天照る月は神代にか
出で反るらむ年は経につつ

Roma-ji: Hisakata no ama teru tsuki wa kamiyo ni ka idekaeru ramu toshi wa henitsutsu
English Translation: The moon shining bright
across the far-reaching sky—
to the age of gods
does it go back as it rises,
while our years go passing by?
Meaning: Does the moon shining in the far heavens return to the age of the gods each time it rises? For us, meanwhile, the years keep passing.
Commentary: Book Seven Miscellaneous Poems 1080

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On the Moon"
While human years pass and people grow old, the poet wonders whether the moon shining in the sky rises each time just as it was in the age of the gods. The poem contrasts the moon's eternity with human mortality and has a reflective air, thinking of the flow of time while gazing at the moon.
Within the group on the moon, it turns away from the moon's beauty and from love toward thoughts of time without end. The poet is unknown.

The first line uses "hisakata no," a pillow word for "ama" (heaven).
The second line, "across the far-reaching sky," means the moon shining in the heavens.
In the third line, "to the age of gods," the particle "ka" expresses doubt and is answered by "ramu" in the fourth line.
The fourth line, "does it go back as it rises," expresses the idea that the moon, waxing and waning over and over, is ever renewed and appears exactly as it did in the age of the gods. It closes in the attributive "ramu" in response to "ka," and the poem pauses here.
The final line, "while our years go passing by," is added by inversion. The lingering "tsutsu" deepens the contrast between the eternal moon and human aging.
Source: Manyoshu
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