Hisakata no amateru tsuki no kakurinaba nani ni nasoete imo o shinobamu

久方の天照る月の隠りなば
何になそへて妹を偲はむ

Roma-ji: Hisakata no amateru tsuki no kakurinaba nani ni nasoete imo o shinobamu
English Translation: If the moon that shines
from the far and lasting heavens
should hide itself away,
to what then shall I liken her
as I long for my dear love
Meaning: If the moon that shines in the heavens should hide itself away, to what then could I liken my beloved as I long for her?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems Ancient and Modern I 2463

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Expressing Feelings through Things"
If the moon shining in the heavens were to hide, what could the speaker liken the beloved to in longing for her: so this love poem laments. For one who has cherished an absent lover by seeing her in the moon, the moon is the only keepsake, and the fear of losing it is plainly expressed.
Like the preceding poem, this one speaks through the moon. Where the preceding poem, 2462, sought the beloved's form in the light of the rising moon, this poem imagines the moon hidden, so that the moon's rising and its hiding form a pair. The word "kakuri" (hiding) in the third line is carried on in the third line of the next poem, 2464, "kumogakuri."
The author is unknown; according to the left note, the poem comes from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection. That collection is thought to contain both Hitomaro's own poems and poems by others that he recorded. Kakinomoto no Hitomaro was a court poet active in the reigns of Empress Jito and Emperor Monmu, and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "hisakata no": a pillow word attached to heaven, sky, moon, light and the like; here it modifies "ama" (heaven) in the second line.
Second line, "amateru tsuki no": "the moon shining in the heavens." It paints in broad, bright strokes the moon that has served as the keepsake of the beloved.
Third line, "kakurinaba": "if it should hide." "Kakuru" with the irrealis "na" of the perfective auxiliary "nu" and "ba" forms a hypothetical condition, fretting over something that has not yet happened. The same word appears in the third line of the next poem, "kumogakuri."
Fourth line, "nani ni nasoete": "likening her to what?" The interrogative "nani" conveys the helplessness of finding nothing to take the moon's place.
Fifth line, "imo o shinobamu": "shall I long for my love?" The conjectural auxiliary "mu" answers the "nani" of the fourth line, closing the poem in uncertainty.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection
Source: Manyoshu
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