Ama no hara kumo naki yoi ni hisakata no tsuki sae wataru kasasagi no hashi

天の原雲なき宵に久方の
月さへ渡るかささぎの橋

Roma-ji: Ama no hara kumo naki yoi ni hisakata no tsuki sae wataru kasasagi no hashi
English Translation: Across the heavens,
on an evening without clouds,
the far-shining moon
is crossing over as well
the magpies' bridge of stars.
Meaning: In the heavens on a cloudless evening, even the moon crosses the bridge of magpies.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 200

Headnote: "On a night at the beginning of autumn when the moon was bright"
On a cloudless, moonlit evening at the start of autumn, the poet sees even the moon crossing the bridge of magpies that the Weaver Maid crosses on Tanabata night. Likening the moon's passage across the River of Heaven to a crossing of the legendary bridge, he paints the clear night sky of early autumn.
Kamo no Mabuchi marked it with a circle. The bridge of magpies rests on the Chinese legend in which magpies spread their wings to span the River of Heaven on Tanabata night.

Line 1, ama no hara, means the vast sky. Poems 229 and 271 open with the same words, a line repeated for poems on the moon in the night sky.
Line 2, "on a cloudless evening," shows the brightness of the moon.
Line 3, hisakata no, is a pillow word for "moon."
Line 4: sae marks addition, "not only the Weaver Maid but even the moon crosses."
Line 5 ends on a noun, naming last the bridge of legend. Following the Tanabata sequence, the bridge crossed by the two stars becomes a bridge crossed by the moon.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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