Nagamureba ina ya kokoro no kurushiki ni itaku na sumiso aki no yo no tsuki

眺むればいなや心の苦しきに
いたくな澄みそ秋の夜の月

Roma-ji: Nagamureba ina ya kokoro no kurushiki ni itaku na sumiso aki no yo no tsuki
English Translation: As I gaze on you,
oh, how pained my heart becomes,
how it hurts me so:
do not shine so very clear,
moon of the autumn night.
Meaning: As I gaze at you, oh, how my heart aches; do not shine so terribly clear, moon of the autumn night.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 367

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When I composed many poems on the moon"
This is the thirty-first poem in the moon series. As he gazes at the moon, the poet's heart aches unbearably, so he calls on the autumn moon not to shine so terribly clear. The more beautifully the moon shines, the more his heart is troubled, a pain born of loving the moon.
Like 309, which told the moon to set if it would be clouded since gazing was painful, this poem calls to the moon out of the pain of looking. Using the same na ... so prohibition as 314, it tells the moon not to be so clear rather than not to set.

First line, “nagamureba”: as I gaze, lost in thought.
Second line, “ina ya kokoro no”: ina ya is an interjection, oh no, my heart.
Third line, “kurushiki ni”: since it is painful, ni marking the reason.
Fourth line, “itaku na sumiso”: itaku means terribly, and na ... so expresses prohibition, do not shine so clear.
Fifth line, “aki no yo no tsuki”: the moon addressed, closing with the line repeated through the moon poems of this book.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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