Momijiba ni tsuki no hikari o sashisoete kore ya akaji no nishiki naruran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

紅葉葉に月の光をさしそへて
これやあかぢの錦なるらん

Roma-ji: Momijiba ni tsuki no hikari o sashisoete kore ya akaji no nishiki naruran
English Translation: On the autumn leaves
the moonlight now has added
its shining rays:
is this, I wonder, the brocade
woven on a bright red ground?
Meaning: With the moonlight added to the autumn leaves, can this be the brocade woven on a red ground, bright beneath the moon?
Commentary: Book Five Autumn Poems II 360

Headnote: "Composed when his courtiers offered poems on the topic 'Moonlight on Autumn Leaves'"
Composed by the retired emperor himself when his courtiers offered poems on the topic "Moonlight on Autumn Leaves." This scene of moonlight added to the autumn leaves, he says, is surely what they call brocade woven on a red ground, and brocade brightened by the moon. In the single word "akaji" he joins the red of the leaves with the brightness of the moon, weaving the topic's "moon" and "leaves" into one brocade.
The author, given as "In Gyosei," the Retired Emperor's own poem, is Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa, son of Emperor Toba, who took the throne as the seventy-seventh emperor and ruled as retired emperor for many years after abdicating. He loved imayō songs, compiled the Ryōjin Hishō, and commanded Fujiwara no Shunzei to compile this anthology, the Senzai Wakashū.
It pairs with 347 of this book, which sang of moonlight and white chrysanthemums, by singing of moonlight and autumn leaves.

First line, "momijiba ni": naming where the moonlight falls.
Second line, "tsuki no hikari o": giving the topic's "moonlight shining." Like "terasu tsukikage" in 347 of this book, it sings of moonlight on flowers or leaves.
Third line, "sashisoete": "sashisou" is for light to be added, the moonlight joining the red of the leaves.
Fourth line, "kore ya akaji no": the interrogative "ya" closes with the attributive "ran" in the last line. "Akaji" is a pivot word joining "a red ground" with "aka," bright with moonlight.
Fifth line, "nishiki naruran": "ran" is the present conjecture, "can this be the brocade?", closing with leaves and moonlight likened to brocade.
Author: Retired Emperor Go-Shirakawa
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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