Ama no hara Asahiyama yori izureba ya tsuki no hikari no hiru ni magaemite

天の原朝日山より出づればや
月の光の昼にまがへみて

Roma-ji: Ama no hara Asahiyama yori izureba ya tsuki no hikari no hiru ni magaemite
English Translation: Through the plain of heaven,
can it be because it rose
from the Morning Sun Hill,
that the light shed by the moon
seems so like the light of day?
Meaning: Is it because it rose from Asahi Hill, the Hill of the Morning Sun, in the wide heavens, that the moonlight seems to me so like the light of day?
Commentary: Autumn Poems 359

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When I composed many poems on the moon"
This is the twenty-third poem in the moon series. Is the moonlight so bright that it can be mistaken for day because the moon rose from Asahiyama, a hill whose name means morning sun? Making use of the name of Asahiyama at Uji in Yamashiro, the poet wittily explains the moon's brightness.
Taking up the idea of the moon seeming like day in the preceding poem, this one seeks the reason in a place name. The fifth line of the text reads hiru ni magaemite, which does not match hiru ni magaeru in the reading line; the text is followed here.

First line, “ama no hara”: the broad plain of the heavens.
Second line, “Asahiyama yori”: Asahiyama is a hill at Uji in Yamashiro; its name, morning sun, ties it to the brightness of day.
Third line, “izureba ya”: is it because it rose, the perfective form with ba followed by the question particle ya.
Fourth line, “tsuki no hikari no”: the light of the moon.
Fifth line, “hiru ni magaemite”: magau is to mistake for, seeming as if it were day, left unfinished for lingering effect.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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