Kiku no ue ni tsuyu nakariseba ika ni shite koyoi no tsuki o yoru to shiramashi - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

菊の上に露なかりせばいかにして
今宵の月を夜と知らまし

Roma-ji: Kiku no ue ni tsuyu nakariseba ika ni shite koyoi no tsuki o yoru to shiramashi
English Translation: Were there not dew drops
lying on the chrysanthemums,
by what means at all
could I know, under tonight's moon,
that it is really night
Meaning: If there were no dew on the chrysanthemums, how could I ever tell, under tonight's moon, that it is night at all?
Commentary: Book Three Autumn Poems 198

Tonight's moon is so bright it seems like day, so that, were there no night dew on the chrysanthemums, the poet could not even tell it was night. The moon's brilliance is expressed through the exaggeration that dew is the only clue that night has come.
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.

First line, 'kiku no ue ni', means upon the chrysanthemums. The line has an extra syllable.
Second line, 'tsuyu nakariseba', uses seba, the irrealis of the past ki with ba, forming a contrary-to-fact condition answered by mashi in the final line.
Third line, 'ika ni shite', means by what means.
Fourth line, 'koyoi no tsuki o', means tonight's moon, recalling the night of the bright moon as in poems 180 and 182 in this book.
Final line, 'yoru to shiramashi', means could I know it was night, closing with the contrary-to-fact mashi.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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