Sasa ga ha no sayagu shimoyo ni nanae karu koromo ni maseru koro ga hada wa mo

笹が葉のさやぐ霜夜に七重着る
衣に増せる子ろが肌はも

Roma-ji: Sasa ga ha no sayagu shimoyo ni nanae karu koromo ni maseru koro ga hada wa mo
English Translation: When the bamboo leaves
rustle on a frosty night,
though I wear seven
layers, warmer still than they
was the skin of my dear girl
Meaning: On a frosty night when the bamboo leaves rustle, warmer than seven layers of clothing was the skin of my beloved.
Commentary: Book Twenty Frontier Guard Poems 4431

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Poems of the frontier guards sent in rotation to the provinces of Tsukushi in the second month of Tenpyō Shōhō 7, year of the wood sheep."
On a frosty night when the bamboo leaves rustle, warmer than seven layers of clothing was my beloved's skin: the poem longs for his wife in the cold of sleeping on the road. The left note says it is the seventh of the eight guard poems of former years that Iware no Morokimi copied and sent to Yakamochi. A Kazusa guard's poem says that even in eight layers he is cold because they are not his wife, sharing the same idea. Karu for kiru is a dialect form.
The author's name has not come down. It is thought to be by a guard himself.

The first line, "sasa ga ha no," "the leaves of bamboo grass," gives a winter night scene.
The second line, "sayagu shimoyo ni," "on a frosty night when they rustle," makes us feel the cold through sound.
The third line, "nanae karu," "wearing seven layers," shows him trying to keep warm.
The fourth line, "koromo ni maseru," means "surpassing the clothing."
The closing line, "koro ga hada wa mo," ends in the exclamatory wa mo, longing for the warmth of his wife's skin.
Source: Manyoshu
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