Kuma mo naki tsuki no hikari o nagamureba mazu Obasute no yama zo koishiki

くまもなき月の光を眺むれば
まづ姨捨の山ぞ恋しき

Roma-ji: Kuma mo naki tsuki no hikari o nagamureba mazu Obasute no yama zo koishiki
English Translation: Gazing at the light
of the moon without a shadow,
as I look on it,
first of all, how I long so
for the hill of Obasute.
Meaning: When I gaze on the flawless moonlight, my heart turns first of all, with longing, to Mount Obasute.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 375

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When I composed many poems on the moon"
This is the thirty-ninth poem in the moon series. Gazing at the moonlight shining without a shadow, the poet longs first of all for Mount Obasute in Shinano, famed for its moon. From the moon before him his heart flies to a distant place famous for the moon.
Mount Obasute stands at Sarashina in Shinano Province and has been known as a place for the moon since the Kokin Wakashū poem in which the heart cannot be consoled on seeing the moon shine on Obasute at Sarashina. Echoing 352, which longs to see the moon in other places, this poem yearns for the moon at the famous Obasute.

First line, “kuma mo naki”: kuma is a clouded or shadowed place, without the least cloud.
Second line, “tsuki no hikari o”: the light of the moon.
Third line, “nagamureba”: as I gaze, lost in thought, the perfective form with ba.
Fourth line, “mazu Obasute no”: first of all, Obasute, the mountain in Shinano famed for its moon.
Fifth line, “yama zo koishiki”: zo is answered by the attributive koishiki, stressing the longing for the mountain.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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