Nami no ue ni ariake no tsuki o mimashi ya wa Suma no sekiya ni tomarazariseba - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

波の上に有明の月を見ましやは
須磨の関屋に泊まらざりせば

Roma-ji: Nami no ue ni ariake no tsuki o mimashi ya wa Suma no sekiya ni tomarazariseba
English Translation: Upon the waves
the moon that lingers at dawn
would I have seen,
had I not taken lodging
in the barrier hut of Suma?
Meaning: Would I ever have seen the dawn moon lingering above the waves, had I not stopped for the night at the barrier hut of Suma?
Commentary: Book Eight Travel Poems 501

Headnote: "Composed as a travel poem when a hundred-poem sequence was presented in the reign of Emperor Horikawa"
Composed on the topic of travel for the hundred-poem sequence presented in the reign of Emperor Horikawa, that is, a poem from the Horikawa Hyakushu. Had I not stayed at the barrier hut of Suma, would I have seen the dawn moon over the waves? the poet asks. Through a counterfactual, he stresses the beauty of the dawn moon over the sea, met only because of his lodging on the road.
The author, "Middle Counselor Kunizane," is Minamoto no Kunizane, son of Minister of the Right Minamoto no Akifusa, who rose to Provisional Middle Counselor. He was one of the poets of the Horikawa Hyakushu.
Taking up the poems of the moon at barriers and on the shore before it, this poem looks out from the barrier hut at Suma on the moon over the sea.

First line, "nami no ue ni": "above the waves of the sea," showing the moon sinking toward the sea at Suma.
Second line, "ariake no tsuki o": "the moon lingering in the dawn sky." The opening poem, 498, also sings of the dawn moon.
Third line, "mimashi ya wa": "mashi" is the counterfactual auxiliary and "ya wa" rhetorical, "would I have seen it? I would not." The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "Suma no sekiya ni": "sekiya" is the barrier guards' hut, the same barrier hut at Suma as in 499.
Fifth line, "tomarazariseba": "zari" is the continuative of the negative "zu" and "se" the irrealis of the past "ki," forming with "ba" a counterfactual condition, "had I not stayed," inverted with the third line.
Author: Minamoto no Kunizane
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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