Translating a scroll. Stuck but trying..

[GTC71]

I purchased a Japanese scroll and I'm trying to translate it. I've been checking Kanji and Kana. I've also been looking at Chinese Hanzi just incase this isn't Japanese. I'm attempting to start at the right hand column and work down. The only one I'm really sure about is the second entry on the right-hand column (I think that means "above" or "high"). I'm also pretty sure the meaning of the seventh character in the middle column is "man" or "person". Other than that I have two others but I'm not very confident about them: first entry on the right-hand column "fetch"?, third entry on the right-hand column: solitary? That's it. I'm stuck on everything else. I would have thought that I should have been able to identify some of the characters with lower stroke counts - but I haven't been successful. I'm uploading a picture of the writing. The picture in the scroll is of a house in a wooded area by a stream. There also seems to be a full round moon above it in the sky. Perhaps the description of the picture will help with the translation. Any help is appreciated. I'm at a loss.
Thanks.

[richvh]

I think it's probably Chinese, as there are very few characters that might be kana.

The very first character (top right) is moon.

[GTC71]

Thanks for the reply. I'll focus on the Chinese end of things.

[spin13]

The first bit looks like an allusion to 明月上孤峰, a line from 景徳傳燈録, a text from the Zen canon originating in China. Even if the scroll is from Japan, the writing is essentially Chinese. It may not necessarily be Buddhist, but that's a good place to start looking.