Inishie o nani ni tsukete ka omoiiden tsuki sae kumoru yo naramashikaba

いにしへを何につけてか思ひ出でん
月さへ曇る世ならましかば

Roma-ji: Inishie o nani ni tsukete ka omoiiden tsuki sae kumoru yo naramashikaba
English Translation: The days of long ago,
by what means could I recall them,
how could I, I ask,
if this were a world in which
even the moon had clouded?
Meaning: By what could I recall the days of old if this were a world in which even the moon grew clouded?
Commentary: Autumn Poems 400

Headnote: "Recalling the past before the moon"
The topic is remembering the past before the moon. In a world where everything changes, if even the moon were to cloud over and become different from the past, by what could one recall the days of old? In the form of a supposition against fact, the poem says that the moon, shining clear as of old, is the very means by which one remembers the past.
The constancy of the moon sung in 350, the moon shining with the same light in a world where all things change, is taken here as the ground for recalling the past. It also echoes 351, in which the moon dwells in the sleeves as the poet recalls past autumns.

First line, “inishie o”: the bygone past.
Second line, “nani ni tsukete ka”: ka is a question particle, by what means.
Third line, “omoiiden”: n is the attributive of the conjectural mu, answering ka, how could I recall it; the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “tsuki sae kumoru”: sae adds, not only other things but even the moon clouding over.
Fifth line, “yo naramashikaba”: mashika is the perfective form of mashi, if it were such a world, a supposition contrary to fact.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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