Yama no ha ni masumi no kagami kaketari to miyuru wa tsuki no izuru narikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

山の端にますみの鏡掛けたりと
見ゆるは月の出づるなりけり

Roma-ji: Yama no ha ni masumi no kagami kaketari to miyuru wa tsuki no izuru narikeri
English Translation: What seemed to me
a mirror of pure brightness
hung upon the ridge
of the mountains, was the moon
now rising into view
Meaning: What looked like a perfectly clear mirror hung on the rim of the mountains was, I realize, the moon rising.
Commentary: Book Four Autumn Poems I 287

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
What seemed to be a flawless, clear mirror hung upon the mountain ridge was in fact the moon rising. Likening the round, bright full moon appearing over the ridge to the clear mirror hung before the gods, the poem conveys the purity of the moonrise by moving from likeness to the realization of the actual scene.
The author, "Fujiwara no Mototoshi," was a son of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Toshiie. Ranked alongside Minamoto no Toshiyori in Emperor Horikawa's poetry circle, he was the teacher of Fujiwara no Shunzei, compiler of the Senzai Wakashū. His official career was modest, and he rose no higher than the Junior Fifth Rank, Upper Grade.
After 275 of this book showed the moon waiting beyond the clouds for nightfall and 276 the moon rising from a high peak, this poem captures the very moment the moon appears over the ridge.

First line, "yama no ha ni": "yama no ha" is the mountain ridge where the moon rises.
Second line, "masumi no kagami": a perfectly clear, unclouded mirror, the image for the round, bright moon.
Third line, "kaketari to": "tari" expresses a continuing state, "that it was hung there."
Fourth line, "miyuru wa tsuki no": "what appeared so was the moon's," revealing the likeness.
Fifth line, "izuru narikeri": "narikeri" expresses realization, "it was its rising," the discovery that what looked like a mirror was the moon coming up.
Author: Fujiwara no Mototoshi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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