Iru tsuki o miru to ya hito wa omouran kokoro o kakete nishi ni mukaeba - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

入る月を見るとや人は思ふらん
心をかけて西に向かへば

Roma-ji: Iru tsuki o miru to ya hito wa omouran kokoro o kakete nishi ni mukaeba
English Translation: That I am watching
the moon as it sinks, do people
suppose, I wonder,
since with all my heart set on it
I turn my face to the west?
Meaning: Do people think I am gazing at the setting moon? It is only that I face the west with all my heart set upon it.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Buddhist Poems 1208

Headnote: "Composed on the theme of longing for paradise through the moon"
This poem was composed on the theme of setting one's mind on paradise by way of the moon. Do people think I am watching the setting moon, since I face the west with my heart set upon it? he says. In the west lies Amida's Pure Land of paradise, and to face west is the posture of one praying for rebirth there. To others he may seem to be gazing at the moon sinking in the west, but in truth his mind is fixed on paradise, and the poem overlays the moon with the Pure Land.
The author, "Horikawa Lay Priest and Minister of the Left," is Minamoto no Toshifusa. A son of the Minister of the Right Minamoto no Morofusa, he rose to minister of the left, was called the Horikawa Minister of the Left, and later took the tonsure.

First line, "iru tsuki o": "the moon as it sinks" behind the western hills.
Second line, "miru to ya hito wa": "ya" is an interrogative binding particle closing with "ran" in the third line.
Third line, "omouran": "ran," the attributive of the present conjectural "ramu," closes the binding, "do people suppose?" The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "kokoro o kakete": "setting my heart on it," meaning wholehearted longing for paradise.
Fifth line, "nishi ni mukaeba": the west is the direction of Amida's Pure Land, and by inversion this line gives the reason for the third.
Author: Minamoto no Toshifusa
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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