Sasanami ya kunitsu mikami no urasabite furuki miyako ni tsuki hitori sumu - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

ささなみや国つ御神のうらさびて
古き都に月ひとりすむ

Roma-ji: Sasanami ya kunitsu mikami no urasabite furuki miyako ni tsuki hitori sumu
English Translation: At Sasanami,
since the gods who keep the land
have grown desolate,
over the old capital
the moon alone dwells clear
Meaning: At Sasanami the gods of the land have grown desolate at heart, and over the ancient capital the moon alone shines clear, dwelling there by itself.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 981

Headnote: "Composed when I had many poems on the moon composed"
This poem was composed by Tadamichi himself when he had many moon poems composed. At Sasanami the gods of the land have grown desolate, and over the old capital the moon alone dwells clear, he says. Depicting the ruined old capital of Ōmi lit unchanged by the moon alone, he contrasts the transience of glory with the permanence of the moon.
The author, the "Lay Monk of Hosshōji, Former Chancellor," is Fujiwara no Tadamichi. A son of Fujiwara no Tadazane, he served as regent and chancellor through four reigns, of Toba, Sutoku, Konoe and Go-Shirakawa, and rose to chancellor. In his later years he took the tonsure and lived at Hosshōji. A poem of his is included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
This poem takes as its model the Man'yōshū poem by Takechi no Furuhito, "Sasanami no kunitsu mikami no urasabite aretaru miyako mireba kanashi mo," taking its first three lines almost unchanged. Where this poem has "the moon alone," the next poem, 982, has "the moon is one," so that conceits on the single moon stand together.

First line, "Sasanami ya": an old name for the southwest shore of Lake Biwa, with "ya" as an exclamatory particle.
Second line, "kunitsu mikami no": "of the gods who rule the land."
Third line, "urasabite": "ura" means heart, "grown desolate at heart." It takes the third line of the model poem unchanged.
Fourth line, "furuki miyako ni": the ruined old capital of Ōmi where Emperor Tenji's Ōtsu palace once stood.
Fifth line, "tsuki hitori sumu": "sumu" is a pivot word meaning both to shine clear and to dwell, "the moon alone dwells in the deserted capital." It answers "tsuki wa hitotsu nite" in the next poem, 982.
Author: Fujiwara no Tadamichi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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