Ashihiki no yama yori izuru tsuki matsu to hito ni wa iite kimi o koso mate - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あしひきの山より出づる月待つと
人には言ひて君をこそ待て

Roma-ji: Ashihiki no yama yori izuru tsuki matsu to hito ni wa iite kimi o koso mate
English Translation: Waiting for the moon
rising from the mountainside,
foot-wearying, so
I tell others, but in truth
it is only you I await.
Meaning: I tell people I am waiting for the moon to rise from the mountain, but it is you I am truly waiting for.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 782

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poem says that while telling others one is waiting for the moon to rise from the mountain, in truth it is the beloved one awaits. Using moon-viewing as a pretext to keep love hidden from others, it secretly confesses a heart waiting for the lover's visit.
The author, "Hitomaro," is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro, a court poet of the Asuka period revered as the sage of poetry and the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū, and one of the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets. Many Man'yōshū poems are included in the Shūishū under Hitomaro's name.
A similar poem is included in Book Twelve of the Man'yōshū.

First line, "ashihiki no," is a pillow word modifying "yama," mountain, the sixth and closing poem of the sequence beginning "ashihiki no."
Second line, "yama yori izuru," means "rising from the mountain."
Third line, "tsuki matsu to," means "that I am waiting for the moon." From the next poem, 783, poems on the moon follow, and here the poem bridges the "ashihiki no" sequence and the moon poems.
Fourth line, "hito ni wa iite," means "telling others," showing the wish to keep love hidden.
Final line, "kimi o koso mate," means "it is you I wait for," concluding in the perfective form "mate" in answer to "koso." With the same phrasing as the final line of 779, "kimi o koso omoe," the thinking heart and the waiting heart form a pair within the sequence.
Author: Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
Source: Shui Wakashu
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