Hisakata no tsuki no katsura mo oru bakari ie no kaze o mo fukaseteshi gana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

久方の月の桂も折るばかり
家の風をも吹かせてしがな

Roma-ji: Hisakata no tsuki no katsura mo oru bakari ie no kaze o mo fukaseteshi gana
English Translation: So that it might break
even the laurel's branches
on the far-off moon,
may the wind of our household
blow forth through you, my son.
Meaning: I wish that you would make the wind of our house blow strong enough to break even the laurel branch on the moon.
Commentary: Book Eight Miscellaneous Poems I 473

Headnote: "Composed by his mother on the night the Minister Sugawara came of age"
The poet wishes that her son would make the wind of their house blow strongly enough to break even the laurel branch on the moon. The headnote shows it was composed by Sugawara no Michizane's mother on the night he came of age. In the form of a wind blowing hard enough to break the moon's laurel, she wishes that her son, born to a scholarly house, would pass the examinations and raise the family's name. Where the preceding poem, 472, lamented that passing the examinations was of no use, this one sings of a parent's hope that her son will pass, so two poems on the same story of the moon's laurel stand side by side from opposite positions.
The author, the mother of the Minister Sugawara, was the wife of Sugawara no Koreyoshi and the mother of Sugawara no Michizane. She is said to have come from the Tomo family. Michizane's own poems appear as 479 and 480 of this book.

First line, "hisakata no," is a pillow word introducing the moon.
Second line, "tsuki no katsura mo," means "even the moon's laurel," drawing, like "orishi katsura no" in the second line of the preceding poem, on the story likening success in the examinations to breaking the laurel.
Third line, "oru bakari," means "enough to break," here expressing a wind strong enough to break the laurel branch.
Fourth line, "ie no kaze o mo," means "the wind of our house," the tradition of the Sugawara, who served for generations through learning. "Kaze," wind, joins with "oru" in the third line, overlaying a wind that breaks branches.
Final line, "fukaseteshi gana," means "I wish you would make it blow," with "teshi gana" a final particle expressing one's own wish.
Author: Mother of Sugawara no Michizane
Source: Shui Wakashu
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