Koto no ne wa tsuki no kage ni mo kayoeba ya sora ni shirabe no suminoboruramu - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

琴の音は月の影にも通へばや
空に調べの澄みのぼるらむ

Roma-ji: Koto no ne wa tsuki no kage ni mo kayoeba ya sora ni shirabe no suminoboruramu
English Translation: Is it because the
music of the koto flows
to the moonlight too
that the melody rises
so clear into the sky
Meaning: Is it because the sound of the koto reaches even the moonlight that its melody rises so clear into the sky?
Commentary: Book Nine Miscellaneous Poems I 543

Is it because the koto's sound flows even to the moonlight, the poet asks, that the melody rises so clear into the sky? The clear notes of the koto ringing up into the bright night sky are grasped as a meeting between the music and the moonlight.
This is the last of the three koto poems beginning with 541. After the pine wind and the autumn wind, this poem has the koto's sound meet the light of the moon. The first line koto no ne wa answers koto no ne ya, the first line of 541.

First line, 'koto no ne wa', means the sound of the koto, answering koto no ne ya in the first line of 541.
Second line, 'tsuki no kage ni mo', means to the moonlight too.
Third line, 'kayoeba ya', means is it because it flows, the realis with ba and the particle ya expressing a question answered by ramu in the final line. It uses the same verb as kayouramu in the third line of 541 and kayoikeru kana in the final line of the preceding poem.
Fourth line, 'sora ni shirabe no', means the melody into the sky.
Final line, 'suminoboruramu', means rises so clear, the attributive of ramu answering ya in the third line. Sumi, clear, is tied to the moon in the second line.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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