Nagamuru mo makotoshikaranu kokochi shite yo ni amaritaru tsuki no kage kana

眺むるもまことしからぬ心地して
世にあまりたる月の影かな

Roma-ji: Nagamuru mo makotoshikaranu kokochi shite yo ni amaritaru tsuki no kage kana
English Translation: Even as I gaze,
it all seems somehow unreal,
not a thing of truth,
too much for this world to hold,
this light shining from the moon.
Meaning: Even as I gaze at it, it hardly seems real; it is a light too great for this world to hold, this moonlight.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 355

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When I composed many poems on the moon"
This is the nineteenth poem in the moon series. Even as he gazes at the moon, the poet feels as though it cannot be real; this moonlight is too splendid for the world to contain. He praises the surpassingly beautiful moonlight as something beyond this world.
Makotoshikaranu here also echoes 357, which asks who would believe it true, so the feeling that the moon's beauty is so unreal as to be hard to believe returns within the series.

First line, “nagamuru mo”: even as I gaze, lost in thought.
Second line, “makotoshikaranu”: makotoshi means real-seeming, and with the negative nu, not seeming real.
Third line, “kokochi shite”: with such a feeling.
Fourth line, “yo ni amaritaru”: overflowing this world, too much for it to hold, the splendor of the moonlight.
Fifth line, “tsuki no kage kana”: kage is the moon's light, closing with kana.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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