Itsu mo kaku ariake no tsuki no akegata wa mono ya kanashiki Suma no sekimori - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

いつもかく有明の月の明け方は
物や悲しき須磨の関守

Roma-ji: Itsu mo kaku ariake no tsuki no akegata wa mono ya kanashiki Suma no sekimori
English Translation: Is it always so?
at the hour when daylight breaks
beneath the dawn moon,
are you overcome with grief,
O guard of Suma Barrier?
Meaning: Is it always like this? When dawn breaks with the moon still lingering in the sky, are you filled with sorrow, O guard of the Suma Barrier?
Commentary: Book Eight Travel Poems 535

Headnote: "Composed on the theme of the dawn moon on a barrier road"
Composed on the topic "the dawn moon on a barrier road." Is it always like this—at daybreak under the lingering dawn moon, do you feel such sorrow, guard of the Suma Barrier? the poet asks. The traveler overlays the loneliness of gazing at the moon at dawn with the heart of the guard who keeps the Suma Barrier year after year, and puts his question to him.
The author, "Hōgen Kenkaku," was a monk, the son of Minamoto no Suekane. Hōgen is one of the ranks for monks.
A Kin'yō Wakashū poem by Minamoto no Kanemasa asks the guard of the Suma Barrier how many nights he has been woken by the cries of plovers crossing from Awaji Island, and it is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu. This poem shares its last line, "Suma no sekimori," and imagines the guard's sorrow through the dawn moon rather than the plovers' cries.

First line, "itsu mo kaku": "always like this."
Second line, "ariake no tsuki no": "of the moon lingering in the dawn sky." The dawn moon is also sung of in the opening poem, 498, and in 501.
Third line, "akegata wa": "at the break of day," repeating "ake" from "ariake" in the second line.
Fourth line, "mono ya kanashiki": the interrogative "ya" closes with the attributive "kanashiki," "do you feel sad?" The poem pauses here.
Fifth line, "Suma no sekimori": an address to the guard of the Suma Barrier, ending on a noun. Poems 499 and 501 of this book also sing of the Suma Barrier, and the next poem, 536, of the shore of Suma.
Author: Kenkaku
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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