Sayo fukuru mama ni toyama no ko no ma yori sasou ka tsuki o hitori naku shika

さ夜更くるままに外山の木の間より
誘ふか月をひとり鳴く鹿

Roma-ji: Sayo fukuru mama ni toyama no ko no ma yori sasou ka tsuki o hitori naku shika
English Translation: As the night grows late,
from among the trees upon
the hills near the village,
is it calling forth the moon,
the stag that cries out alone?
Meaning: As the night grows late, from among the trees of the near hills—is it calling to the moon, that stag crying all alone?
Commentary: Autumn Poems 239

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems on deer"
As the night deepens, a stag cries alone from among the trees of the hills near the village, as if calling to the moon. Hearing the stag's cry for its mate as a voice inviting the moon, the poet portrays the solitude of a stag on a moonlit night.
The Ruijū text differs in line 4. According to the source's note, line 4 read differently in the original and the editor emended it following the Ruijū text; this edition follows that emendation. In the source text consulted, characters in lines 3 and 4 are missing and have been supplied from the Teika text's ko no ma yori and sasou ka tsuki o.

Line 1: sa is a prefix, "as the night grows late," taking up "as the night grew late" in the preceding poem, 238.
Line 2: mama ni means "as," and toyama means hills near the village. Against the "deep mountains" of the preceding poem, this one names the near hills, so deep and near mountains pair the two poems.
Line 3 means "from among the trees."
Line 4: ka is interrogative, asking whether the stag's cry is inviting the moon, and the poem pauses here.
Line 5 ends on a noun, giving last the stag crying alone and revealing, through inversion, who is asked about.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
Prev Poem: Tsuki o nomi aware to omou sayo fukete miyamagakure ni shika zo nakunaru
Next Poem: Asa madaki ono no tsuyujimo samukereba aki o tsurashi to shika zo nakunaru