Yorozuyo ni terubeki tsuki mo kumogakuri kurushiki mono zo awamu to omoedo

万代に照るべき月も雲隠り
苦しきものぞ逢はむと思へど

Roma-ji: Yorozuyo ni terubeki tsuki mo kumogakuri kurushiki mono zo awamu to omoedo
English Translation: For ten thousand years
the moon that's meant to shine on
hides behind the clouds—
oh, how painful it can be,
though I think that we shall meet.
Meaning: Just as the moon, meant to shine for ten thousand ages, is hidden by clouds, how painful it is—though I think to meet you.
Commentary: Book Ten Autumn Miscellaneous Poems 2025

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Tanabata"
This poem sings of the pain of not being able to meet though one intends to, just as the moon meant to shine forever may be hidden by clouds. Likening the moon's hiding in clouds to an obstacle to meeting, it expresses the pain of a love that does not go as one wishes. It begins with "yorozuyo ni" like the preceding poem, and whereas that poem sang of eternal love, this one sings of how even the eternal meets obstacles, forming a pair.
Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet of the Asuka period, active under Empress Jitō and Emperor Monmu. The left note records that this poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection, and it is uncertain whether it is Hitomaro's own work or a poem by someone else that he recorded.

The first line, "for ten thousand ages," is the same opening as the preceding poem.
The second line, "the moon that should shine," names the moon.
The third line, "hidden by clouds," with the upper lines forming a figure for the pain of not meeting.
In the fourth line, "kurushiki mono zo," "zo" is emphatic, asserting that it is painful, and the poem breaks here.
In the last line, "awamu to omoedo," "do" is adversative; by inversion it gives at the end the wish to meet.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Manyoshu
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