Yamaoroshi no tsuki ni konoha o fukikakete hikari ni magau kage o miru kana

山おろしの月に木の葉を吹きかけて
光にまがふ影を見るかな

Roma-ji: Yamaoroshi no tsuki ni konoha o fukikakete hikari ni magau kage o miru kana
English Translation: The wind down the mountain
toward the moon flings up the leaves,
blowing them aloft,
and mingled with its brightness
I see their shadows flutter.
Meaning: The wind blowing down from the mountain flings the leaves toward the moon, and I watch their shadows mingle with its light until I cannot tell them apart.
Commentary: Winter Poems 499

Headnote: "Falling leaves before the moon"
The topic is leaves falling before the moon. The wind blowing down from the mountain tosses the leaves up as if flinging them at the moon, so that the moonlight and the shadows of the whirling leaves seem to blend together. The scene of leaves falling before the moon is caught as an interplay of light and shadow.
Where 495 in this book told of the moonlight that streams in after the leaves have all fallen, this poem catches the leaves still falling and the moonlight at the same moment.

First line, “yamaoroshi no”: a hypermetric line of six syllables, the wind blowing down from the mountain.
Second line, “tsuki ni konoha o”: the leaves toward the moon, as though the wind were aiming at it.
Third line, “fukikakete”: flinging them, showing the force of the wind.
Fourth line, “hikari ni magau”: magau is to blend so that one cannot tell things apart, the moonlight and the shadows of the leaves intermingling.
Fifth line, “kage o miru kana”: kage is the form of the leaves seen in the light, and kana is exclamatory.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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