Composed after midnight, when the moon was shining beautifully.
夏の夜はまだよひながらあけぬるを雲のいづこに月やどるらむ
| natu no yo Fa mada yoFi nagara akenuru wo kumo no iduko ni tuki yadoruramu |
On summer nights It’s just past sundown, and Already dawn is breaking, But, where amongst the clouds Does the moon find lodging? |
Fukayabu
深養父
This poem is also included as #36 in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshū compiled by Fujiwara no Teika.
Regarding the romanization of the second line: in まだよひながら, is wi an alternative classical pronunciation for the character ひ? Are there variant texts that give 宵 as よゐ?
The University of Virginia version has the line written as follows:まだ宵ながら, which they have transliterated as mada yoi nagara using the modern pronunciation.
http://jti.lib.virginia.edu/japanese/hyakunin/hyakua.html
No – this particular word would have always originally have been written よひ in kana and pronounced yoFi in Heian times and yopi in Nara. There is a separate word 夜居 (yowi), which meant ‘serve at the palace all night’ or ‘conduct religious observances all night’. You’ve spotted a transcription mistake, which I have now corrected.