Akikaze ya amatsu kumoi o harauran fukeyuku mama ni tsuki no sayakeki

秋風や天つ雲居を払ふらん
更けゆくままに月のさやけき

Roma-ji: Akikaze ya amatsu kumoi o harauran fukeyuku mama ni tsuki no sayakeki
English Translation: Can the autumn wind
be sweeping across the sky,
clearing heaven's clouds?
As the night grows on and deep
ever clearer shines the moon.
Meaning: Is the autumn wind sweeping the clouds from the heavens? As the night grows late, the moon shines ever more clear.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 339

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When I composed many poems on the moon"
This is the third poem in the moon series. As the night deepens the moon shines ever brighter and clearer; can it be that the autumn wind is sweeping the clouds from the sky? The poet seeks the reason for the moon's growing brightness in the unseen work of the autumn wind.
Following the preceding poem's worry about clouds over the moon, this one shows the autumn wind sweeping clouds away and the moon growing clear. It can also be seen as the fulfilment of 307, which wished the wind would sweep the clouds from the moon's path.

First line, “akikaze ya”: ya is a question particle, answering ran in the third line.
Second line, “amatsu kumoi o”: amatsu means of heaven, the cloudy regions of the sky.
Third line, “harauran”: ran conjectures a cause, is it because it is sweeping them; the attributive answers ya, and the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “fukeyuku mama ni”: as the night grows late.
Fifth line, “tsuki no sayakeki”: sayakeshi means bright and clear, the attributive ending lingering; it gives afterward by inversion the grounds for the conjecture.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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