classic waka stream

有明の月もあかしの浦風に
波ばかりこそよると見えしか
Roma-ji

Ariake no tsuki mo akashi no urakaze ni nami bakari koso yoru to mieshika

English Translation
The moon of the dawn
shines so bright at Akashi
in the ocean breeze,
only the waves that draw near
showed me it was night at all
Meaning
At Akashi, where the dawn moon shines so brightly in the sea breeze, only the waves rolling in showed that it was night.
Commentary
Book Three Autumn Poems 216

At the Bay of Akashi, lit so brightly by the dawn moon that it seems like day, only the waves washing in on the sea breeze hint that it is night. It is a poem of technique, overlaying the place name Akashi with the moon's brightness, and the waves' approach with night.
Akashi, famous for its moon, also appears in poems 179 and 208 in this book. With this poem the poems on the dawn moon come to an end.
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, 'ariake no', refers to the dawn moon that lingers in the sky until daybreak.
Second line, 'tsuki mo akashi no', is a pivot word in which akashi is both Akashi, a poetic place in Harima, and akashi, bright, for the moon.
Third line, 'urakaze ni', means in the breeze of the bay.
Fourth line, 'nami bakari koso', means the waves alone, and koso binds with the realis shika in the final line.
Final line, 'yoru to mieshika', is a pivot word in which yoru means both for waves to draw near and night; with the moon so bright that it seemed like day, only the incoming waves suggested night.
Source
Kinyo Wakashu
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