Iseshima ya tsuki no hikari no saikaura wa akashi ni wa ninu kage zo sumikeru

伊勢島や月の光のさひか浦は
あかしには似ぬ影ぞ澄みける

Roma-ji: Iseshima ya tsuki no hikari no saikaura wa akashi ni wa ninu kage zo sumikeru
English Translation: Ah, isles of Ise!
At Saika Bay where shines
the light of the moon,
unlike Akashi's brightness,
how clear the moonlight dwells.
Meaning: Ah, the isles of Ise! At Saika Bay, lit by the moon, the moonlight is clear beyond the bright moon of Akashi.
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1473

Headnote: "Ten Poems on the Moon"
The first of the ten poems on the moon. The moonlight at Saika Bay in Ise is clearer and brighter than at Akashi, famed for its moon.
Invoking Akashi, long known for its moon, it praises the moon of a bay in Ise as surpassing it. Saika Bay appears to be a bay in Ise, though its location is unclear. The place name Akashi is joined with akashi, bright, to stress the moon's brilliance.

First line, “Iseshima ya”: O isles of Ise, ya an interjectory particle of exclamation.
Second line, “tsuki no hikari no”: lit by the light of the moon.
Third line, “saikaura wa”: taken as the name of a bay in Ise; the line has an extra syllable.
Fourth line, “akashi ni wa ninu”: akashi is a pivot word joining the famous moon-viewing place Akashi and akashi, bright, "unlike Akashi's moon." Akashi Bay appears again in 1475.
Fifth line, “kage zo sumikeru”: the binding particle zo concludes with the attributive keru, stressing "how clear the moonlight is."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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