Kumo no nami kakaranu sayo no tsukikage o kiyotakigawa ni utsushite zo miru - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

雲の波かからぬさ夜の月影を
清滝川に映してぞ見る

Roma-ji: Kumo no nami kakaranu sayo no tsukikage o kiyotakigawa ni utsushite zo miru
English Translation: Where no waves of cloud
come to break across the night,
the light of the moon
I see reflected in the stream
of the clear Kiyotaki River
Meaning: On a night untouched by waves of cloud, I watch the moonlight reflected in the clear Kiyotaki River.
Commentary: Book Three Autumn Poems 187

On a clear night untouched by 'waves of cloud', the poet watches the moonlight mirrored in the pure current of the Kiyotaki River. Seeing the clouds as waves, the poem lets the purity in the river's name echo the moon's clear light.
From poem 174 through poem 217 in this book a long sequence of moon poems follows, from the evening moon through the bright moon of the fifteenth night of the Eighth Month to the moon at dawn, singing of the moon in all its aspects and of the heart that gazes on it.
The author, Taikenmon'in no Horikawa, was a daughter of Minamoto no Akinaka and a poet and lady-in-waiting to Taikenmon'in. She had earlier served the former Kamo Priestess, Princess Reishi, under the name Rokujō. She was the elder sister of Jōsaimon'in no Hyōe, and one of her poems appears in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.

First line, 'kumo no nami', likens trailing clouds in the sky to waves, an associated word with the river in the fourth line.
Second line, 'kakaranu sayo no', means of a night with no clouds crossing it, sa being a prefix that smooths the rhythm.
Third line, 'tsukikage o', means the moonlight.
Fourth line, 'kiyotakigawa ni', is the river flowing deep in Saga in Yamashiro, the kiyo, clear, of its name echoing the pure moonlight.
Final line, 'utsushite zo miru', is a binding in which zo closes on the attributive miru, stressing the act of viewing it reflected. Poem 180 in this book also sings of gazing at the moon mirrored in pond water.
Author: Taikenmon-in no Horikawa
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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