Hyakunin Isshu

7.

天の原
ふりさけ見れば
春日なる
三笠の山に
出でし月かも

Translation-

As I gaze out, far
across the plains of heaven
ah, at Kasuga,
from behind Mount Mikasa,
it's the same moon that came out then!

Notes-

According to historical accounts, Abe no Nakamaro, the poet of this poem, went to China to study at the age of 16. This was a part of the yearly missions made by Japan to the Imperial in China. But due to poor ship construction and storms from the south, these missions were rare, as the ships were often wrecked. Japan sent 19 missions to China. Approximately one third of those who embarked from Japan did not survive to return home.

Nakamaro spent many years in China and became friends with some majorly famous poets at the time such as Li Bo and Wang Wei, and was in the service of the Chinese emperor for a time. But after so many years of service, it was time for Nakamaro to return to Japan, so on the night before he departed, his friends in China threw him a farewell feast. That evening, he looked up and saw a beautiful moon, and composed this poem. 

The poem explains how many years ago, Nakamaro prayed for safe return to home someday, from China, at the Grand shrine of Kasuga. He remembered that same moon from so many years ago, and thus this poem explains the radiance of moon from countries apart.

However, there is another beautiful interpretation given by one of the persons who heard this poem from Nakamaro that night, and he said, "China and this country have different languages, but since the radiance of the moon is the same for both, men's feelings about it must surely be the same." This comment beautifully points out that the detailed emotion experienced by menn remains the same, no matter what culture or land they belong from. 

But tragically, Nakamaro's return trip failed, and the ship was blown off course and eventually, he passed away never seeing his homeland again.