Tsuki mireba onaji kuni nari yama koso ba kimi ga atari o hedatetarikere

月見れば同じ国なり山こそば
君があたりを隔てたりけれ

Roma-ji: Tsuki mireba onaji kuni nari yama koso ba kimi ga atari o hedatetarikere
English Translation: When I see the moon
we are in the same country—
it is the mountains
that stand between you and me,
keeping your dwelling apart.
Meaning: When I look at the moon, we are in the same land; it is only the mountains that stand between me and where you are.
Commentary: Book Eighteen 4073

Headnote: "Three poems sent by Ōtomo no Sukune Ikenushi, secretary of Echizen Province." "What a man of old said."
Since they look at the same moon, the poet says, it is as though they are in the same country; only the mountains separate him from where his friend is. Ikenushi, who had moved to Echizen, attached this poem to a letter to Yakamochi in Etchū, expressing through the contrast of moon and mountains that their hearts are close though they live apart.
Ōtomo no Ikenushi was a member of the Ōtomo clan who served as secretary of Etchū while Yakamochi was governor there, exchanging many poems and letters with him. At this time he had been transferred to the post of secretary of Echizen.
The accompanying letter says that he arrived at Fukami village on the fourteenth of the third month, that he gazes north toward Etchū and constantly thinks of Yakamochi's virtue, that being so near has only increased his longing, that the day when they might sit knee to knee is not yet set, and that the grief of parting in life is beyond words; it is dated the fifteenth of the third month. It was written in 749. As "what a man of old said" indicates, the poem borrows an old song; in Book Eleven, 2420, from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection, there is a poem of similar conception beginning "tsuki mireba kuni wa onaji zo yama henari."

First line, "tsuki mireba": the perfective form plus "ba," "when I look at the moon." The idea is that two people far apart see the same moon.
Second line, "onaji kuni nari": sharing the moon, they are in the same country. The poem pauses after the second line.
Third line, "yama koso ba": "koso" is a binding particle and "ba" emphatic, forming a kakari-musubi construction with "kere" in the last line. Moon and mountains are contrasted: the moon connects, the mountains divide.
Fourth line, "kimi ga atari o": "kimi" is Yakamochi, "the place where you are."
Last line, "hedatetarikere": "kere" is the perfective form of the exclamatory "keri," completing the construction with "koso." Yakamochi's reply, 4076, answers with the words of this poem, "tsuki mireba onajiki sato o kokoro hedatetsu," making the correspondence of the exchange clear.
Author: Ōtomo no Ikenushi
Source: Manyoshu
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