Tanabata shi funanori surashi masokagami kiyoki tsukuyo ni kumo tachiwataru

織女し舟乗りすらしまそ鏡
清き月夜に雲立ちわたる

Roma-ji: Tanabata shi funanori surashi masokagami kiyoki tsukuyo ni kumo tachiwataru
English Translation: The Weaver Maiden
seems to be boarding her boat:
like a polished mirror
in the clear and moonlit night
the clouds are rising all across
Meaning: The Weaver Maiden must be boarding her boat to cross the River of Heaven—for in this clear, mirror-bright moonlit night, clouds are rising all across the sky.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3900

Headnote: "On the night of the seventh day of the seventh month of the tenth year, gazing alone at the River of Heaven, a poem expressing my feelings"
Seeing clouds spread across a clear moonlit sky, the poet imagines that the Weaver Maiden is just now boarding her boat to cross the River of Heaven. According to the headnote, he composed it alone on the night of the seventh day of the seventh month of 738, gazing up at the Milky Way. In most Tanabata poems of the Man'yōshū it is the Herdsman who crosses the river, but this poem follows the Chinese legend in having the Weaver Maiden cross by boat. The young Yakamochi's delicate sensibility reads a heavenly love affair in the movement of clouds on a moonlit night.
The poet, Ōtomo no Yakamochi, was the son of the Major Counselor Ōtomo no Tabito. Appointed Governor of Etchū in 746, he spent five years there, later serving as Junior Counselor and Governor of Inaba before rising to Middle Counselor. He is thought to have played a central role in compiling the Man'yōshū.
The left note reads, "The above poem is by Ōtomo no Sukune Yakamochi."

First line, "Tanabata shi": Tanabata is the star Vega, or the goddess who personifies it; shi is an emphatic particle.
Second line, "funanori surashi": "she seems to be boarding her boat." Rashi is an auxiliary of inference based on evidence, which is given in the lower verse, "clouds are rising." The poem breaks after the second line.
Third line, "masokagami": "a well-polished mirror," a pillow word for kiyoki ("clear").
Fourth line, "kiyoki tsukuyo ni": "on a clear moonlit night." On the seventh night the moon is in its first quarter, hanging pure in the evening sky.
Fifth line, "kumo tachiwataru": clouds rising and spreading across the sky. The evidence for the inference comes last in an inverted structure, portraying the clouds as signs of the heavenly boat setting out.
Author: Otomo no Yakamochi
Source: Manyoshu
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