Mase naku wa nani o shirushi ni omowamashi tsuki ni magayou shiragiku no hana

ませなくは何をしるしに思はまし
月にまがよふ白菊の花

Roma-ji: Mase naku wa nani o shirushi ni omowamashi tsuki ni magayou shiragiku no hana
English Translation: Were there not the fence,
by what sign could I have known
that the flowers were there,
mingling with the light of moon,
the white chrysanthemum blooms?
Meaning: Were it not for the low fence, by what sign could I have known they were there, the white chrysanthemums that blend into the moonlight?
Commentary: Autumn Poems 469

Headnote: "Chrysanthemums before the moon"
The topic is chrysanthemums before the moon. In the moonlight the white chrysanthemums are lost in the whiteness of the moon's rays, so had there been no low fence around them, by what sign would the poet have known that flowers were there? The overlapping whiteness of moonlight and chrysanthemums is expressed in the form of a supposition against fact.
Just as the plumed pampas grass in 386 would be lost in the moonlight, here the white chrysanthemums blend into it. Adding the moon to the chrysanthemum poems before, it brings together two images of autumn, moon and chrysanthemum.

First line, “mase naku wa”: mase is a low fence, if there were no fence.
Second line, “nani o shirushi ni”: taking what as a sign.
Third line, “omowamashi”: mashi expresses supposition contrary to fact, answering naku wa in the first line, how could I have thought; the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “tsuki ni magayou”: magayou is to mingle so as not to be told apart, lost in the moonlight.
Fifth line, “shiragiku no hana”: ending on a noun, the white chrysanthemum blending with the moonlight.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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