Izuko ni mo tsuki wa wakaji o ika nareba sayakekaruran Sarashina no yama - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いづこにも月は分かじをいかなれば
さやけかるらむ更級の山

Roma-ji: Izuko ni mo tsuki wa wakaji o ika nareba sayakekaruran Sarashina no yama
English Translation: Since the moon, I think,
makes no distinction of places
wherever it shines,
why is it that it shines so bright
on the mountain of Sarashina?
Meaning: The moon surely shines on every place alike, so why is it so bright and clear over the mountain of Sarashina?
Commentary: Book Four Autumn Poems I 277

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed when presenting a hundred-poem sequence in the reign of Emperor Horikawa"
Like the preceding poem, this is a moon poem from the Horikawa Hundred-Poem Sequence. The moon should shine on every place without distinction, so why, the poet asks, is it so bright and clear over the mountain of Sarashina? In the form of a question, he praises the special brightness of the moon over Mount Obasute at Sarashina, renowned for its moon.
The author, "Priest Ryūgen," was the son of Fujiwara no Michimune, Governor of Wakasa. A Tendai monk who became an ajari, he was active as one of the poets of the Horikawa Hundred-Poem Sequence.
Ever since an anonymous poem in the Kokin Wakashū, "My heart finds no comfort, seeing the moon shining over Mount Obasute in Sarashina," Mount Obasute at Sarashina has been sung of as a famous place for the moon. Poem 278 of this book sings of Mount Obasute and 280 of the mountain of Sarashina, so poems on the moon of Sarashina follow.

First line, "izuko ni mo": "wherever it may be."
Second line, "tsuki wa wakaji o": "waku" means to distinguish, "ji" is negative conjecture and "o" concessive: "though the moon would make no distinction."
Third line, "ika nareba": "for what reason," posing the question.
Fourth line, "sayakekaruran": "sayakeshi" means bright and clear, and "ramu" is present conjecture asking for a cause.
Fifth line, "Sarashina no yama": ends on a noun, Mount Obasute in Shinano. Poem 280 of this book also names "Sarashina no yama."
Author: Ryūgen
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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