Aki no yo no sora ni izu chō na nomi shite kage honoka naru yūzukuyo kana

秋の夜の空に出づてふ名のみして
影ほのかなる夕月夜かな

Roma-ji: Aki no yo no sora ni izu chō na nomi shite kage honoka naru yūzukuyo kana
English Translation: In the autumn night
it has risen, so they say,
only in name, though,
for its light is still so faint,
the moon in the evening sky.
Meaning: The moon is said to have risen in the autumn night sky, but only in name, for its light is still faint in this early evening moon.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 306

Headnote: "The moon"
This poem was composed on the topic of the moon, and a long series of moon poems begins here. The moon is said to have risen into the autumn night sky, but only in name, for this evening moon still gives only a faint light. At the start of the moon poems the poet sets the moon of early evening, not yet full, foreshadowing the autumn moon that will grow brighter.
From here moon poems fill a large part of this book. They begin with this faint evening moon and go on to the moon rising, the full moon and the moon setting behind the mountain rim, singing its many forms in turn.

First line, “aki no yo no”: of the autumn night, modifying sora in the second line.
Second line, “sora ni izu chō”: chō is a contraction of to iu, said to have come out into the sky.
Third line, “na nomi shite”: in name only, showing that though the moon is said to be out, its actual light is scant.
Fourth line, “kage honoka naru”: kage is light, the light being faint.
Fifth line, “yūzukuyo kana”: yūzukuyo is the moon seen in the evening, or an evening with a moon, closing with kana.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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