Yaoka yuku hama no masago o shikikaete tama ni nashitsuru aki no yo no tsuki - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

八百日行く浜の真砂を敷きかへて
玉になしつる秋の夜の月

Roma-ji: Yaoka yuku hama no masago o shikikaete tama ni nashitsuru aki no yo no tsuki
English Translation: The sands upon the shore
one would walk eight hundred days
it has spread anew,
turning every grain to jewels,
the moon of the autumn night
Meaning: The moon of the autumn night has spread anew the sands of a shore so vast it would take eight hundred days to walk, turning every grain into a jewel.
Commentary: Book Four Autumn Poems I 292

Headnote: "Composed when the chief priest Shigeyasu held the Later Poetry Contest of the Kamo Shrine"
Composed for the Later Poetry Contest of the Kamo Shrine held by Kamo no Shigeyasu, chief priest of the Kamo Wakeikazuchi Shrine. The moonlight has spread anew all the sands of a shore so vast it would take eight hundred days to walk, turning every last grain into a jewel. Seeing the countless sparkling grains of sand as jewels, the poem expresses through hyperbole the brightness of the moon lighting the vast shore.
The author, "Provisional Middle Counselor Nagakata," is Fujiwara no Nagakata, son of Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Akinaga, who rose to Provisional Middle Counselor. His mother was a daughter of Fujiwara no Toshitada, making him a nephew of the compiler Fujiwara no Shunzei.
"The sands of a shore eight hundred days long" had been used since the Man'yōshū as a figure for something countless. This poem and the next, 293, both come from the Later Poetry Contest of the Kamo Shrine.

First line, "yaoka yuku": "yaoka," eight hundred days, means a great many days: a shore so vast it would take that long to walk.
Second line, "hama no masago o": "masago" is fine sand, a figure for great numbers.
Third line, "shikikaete": "spreading it anew," the moonlight transforming the shore as it shines on it.
Fourth line, "tama ni nashitsuru": "tsuru" is the attributive of the perfective "tsu": "has turned it into jewels," the sand glittering in the moonlight seen as jewels.
Fifth line, "aki no yo no tsuki": ends on a noun, the same final line as 282 and 286 of this book.
Author: Fujiwara no Nagakata
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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