Ama no hara tsuki takenoboru kumoji o ba wakite mo kaze no fukiharawanan

天の原月たけのぼる雲路をば
わきても風の吹き払はなん

Roma-ji: Ama no hara tsuki takenoboru kumoji o ba wakite mo kaze no fukiharawanan
English Translation: Through the plain of heaven,
where the moon climbs up on high,
the cloud-way it takes,
this above all, may the wind
come and sweep it clean for me.
Meaning: Above all, may the wind sweep clear the cloudy path along which the moon climbs high across the plain of heaven.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 307

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "The moon"
This poem continues the topic of the moon. The poet wishes that the wind, whatever else it does, would sweep away the clouds along the path the moon climbs across the wide sky. The wish to see the moon unclouded is expressed as a call to the wind.
After the faint evening moon of the preceding poem, here the moon climbs high in the sky. The dislike of clouds that hide the moon and the wish for the wind to blow them away recur again and again in the moon poems that follow.

First line, “ama no hara”: the broad plain of the heavens.
Second line, “tsuki takenoboru”: taku means to climb high or reach its height, the moon rising high in the sky.
Third line, “kumoji o ba”: the path through the clouds, with o ba a strengthened form of o.
Fourth line, “wakite mo kaze no”: wakite means above all, showing how strongly the poet wishes this at least for the moon's path.
Fifth line, “fukiharawanan”: nan expresses a wish directed at another, may the wind sweep it away.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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