Sasa no ha ni oku hatsushimo no yo o samumi shimi wa tsuku tomo iro ni ideme ya - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

笹の葉に置く初霜の夜を寒み
しみはつくとも色に出でめや

Roma-ji: Sasa no ha ni oku hatsushimo no yo o samumi shimi wa tsuku tomo iro ni ideme ya
English Translation: Like first frost settling
on the leaves of bamboo grass,
in the night so cold,
though it freeze and stain me through,
would I ever let my color show
Meaning: Like the first frost that freezes on the bamboo leaves in the cold of night, though my love may soak deep into me, would I ever let it show its color? Never.
Commentary: Book Thirteen Love Poems III 663

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
As the first frost on bamboo leaves freezes in the cold of night, the poet's love may sink deep into his heart, yet he will never let it show. With shimi punning on "freeze" and "soak in," the evergreen bamboo leaves that keep their color under frost are overlaid with a resolve not to reveal love.
The author, recorded as Mitsune, is Oshikochi no Mitsune. He was one of the compilers of the Kokinshu and is counted among the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
Another poem by Mitsune following the preceding one, it continues, like Tomonori's "I will not show its color" in poem 661, the series of poems resolving not to let love show.

The first line, "sasa no ha ni," presents evergreen bamboo leaves, sung as unchanging in color even under frost.
The second line, "oku hatsushimo no," means "of the first frost of the winter settling there."
The third line, "yo o samumi," means "since the night is cold," with the suffix mi giving the reason. Up to here the lines form a preface leading to shimi.
The fourth line, "shimi wa tsuku tomo," uses shimi as a pivot word for "freeze" and "soak in," overlaying frost freezing with love sinking into the heart.
The final line, "iro ni ideme ya," means "would I let it show? never," formed from me, the realis of the conjectural mu, plus the rhetorical ya.
Author: Oshikochi no Mitsune
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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