Ariake no tsuki mo shimizu ni yadorikeri koyoi wa koeji Ōsaka no seki - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

有明の月も清水に宿りけり
今宵は越えじ逢坂の関

Roma-ji: Ariake no tsuki mo shimizu ni yadorikeri koyoi wa koeji Ōsaka no seki
English Translation: The dawn moon too
has taken lodging tonight
in the clear spring:
this night I will not cross
the barrier of Ōsaka
Meaning: The lingering dawn moon too has taken lodging in the clear spring; tonight I will not cross the Ōsaka Barrier.
Commentary: Book Eight Travel Poems 498

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The lingering dawn moon too has taken lodging in the clear spring at the barrier, so tonight I will not cross the Ōsaka Barrier, the poet says. Seeing the moon that remains until dawn reflected in the barrier spring as though it had taken lodging there, the traveler, drawn by its beauty, decides to delay his own crossing, revealing a refined traveler's heart. The poem opens the book of travel poems.
The author, "Fujiwara no Norinaga Ason," was the son of Fujiwara no Nakakiyo, Governor of Owari. He served as governor of several provinces and is known as one of the Six Poets of Waka. In later life he took the tonsure and was called the Tsu Lay Monk.
This poem opens the book of travel poems. The final poem, 544, closes the book with a night spent borrowing lodging from the clouds on a mountain peak. The moon lodging in the spring at the opening and the traveler lodging with the clouds at the close answer each other through the conceit of "lodging."

First line, "ariake no": the time when the moon still lingers in the sky after daybreak. The dawn moon is also sung in 501 and 535 of this book.
Second line, "tsuki mo shimizu ni": "shimizu" is the clear spring at the Ōsaka Barrier, a famous spring. "Mo" implies "the moon too, like me."
Third line, "yadorikeri": the exclamatory "keri" of realization, seeing the moon's reflection in the spring as its lodging. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "koyoi wa koeji": the negative volitional "ji," "tonight I will not cross."
Fifth line, "Ōsaka no seki": the barrier on the border of Yamashiro and Ōmi, a poetic place at the gateway to the eastern provinces. Ending on a noun, it names last the barrier he will not cross. Poems 522 and 523 of this book also sing of the Ōsaka Barrier.
Author: Fujiwara no Norinaga
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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