Atarayo o Ise no hamaogi orishikite imo koishira ni mitsuru tsuki kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あたら夜を伊勢の浜荻折り敷きて
妹恋しらに見つる月かな

Roma-ji: Atarayo o Ise no hamaogi orishikite imo koishira ni mitsuru tsuki kana
English Translation: This precious night,
on the beach reeds of Ise
broken for my bed,
longing for my wife at home,
I gazed upon the moon
Meaning: On this night too precious to waste, I broke the beach reeds of Ise to make my bed, and gazed upon the moon longing for my wife.
Commentary: Book Eight Travel Poems 500

Headnote: "Composed on the theme of a traveler's lodging before the moon"
Composed on the topic "a traveler's lodging before the moon." On this night too lovely to let go, the poet says, I spread the broken reeds of Ise as my bed and gazed at the moon, longing for my wife. He conveys the loneliness of having to spend a beautiful moonlit night alone under a traveler's sky, yearning for his wife.
The author, "Fujiwara no Mototoshi," was the son of Minister of the Right Fujiwara no Toshiie. Though his rank remained low, he was esteemed in the poetic circles of the cloister period and became the teacher of Fujiwara no Shunzei. He has a poem in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
A Man'yōshū poem by the wife of Go no Dan'ochi wonders whether her husband sleeps on the rough shore with the beach reeds of Ise broken beneath him. This poem takes it as its source and recasts it as the traveling husband longing for his wife. "Imo koishira ni" is also a Man'yōshū expression.

First line, "atarayo o": "atarayo" is a night so fine that its passing is to be regretted.
Second line, "Ise no hamaogi": reeds growing on the shore of Ise, said to be the local name for reeds there, drawing on the word in the Man'yōshū poem by the wife of Go no Dan'ochi.
Third line, "orishikite": "breaking and spreading them," making them his bed. The word "orishiku" also appears in 514 and in the final poem, 544, of this book.
Fourth line, "imo koishira ni": "imo" is a wife or beloved, and "koishira ni" a Man'yōshū phrase meaning "out of longing."
Fifth line, "mitsuru tsuki kana": "tsuru" is the attributive of the perfective "tsu," and "kana" is exclamatory, closing on "the moon" and answering "atarayo" in the first line.
Author: Fujiwara no Mototoshi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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