Kōri dani tomaranu haru no tanikaze ni mada uchitokenu uguisu no koe - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

氷だにとまらぬ春の谷風に
まだうちとけぬ鶯の声

Roma-ji: Kōri dani tomaranu haru no tanikaze ni mada uchitokenu uguisu no koe
English Translation: In the valley wind
of spring, where not even ice
can stay unmelted,
still it has not loosened yet,
the warbler's singing voice.
Meaning: In the spring valley wind that leaves not even the ice unmelted, the warbler's voice has yet to loosen into song.
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems 6

Headnote: "For a poetry contest in the reign of Tenryaku"
Though the spring wind blowing through the valley melts even the ice, the warbler's voice has not yet grown free and easy, the poet observes in this scene of early spring. By overlapping the melting of ice with the warbler's voice "loosening," the poem catches the contrast between the advancing season and the bird's shyness. According to the headnote, it was submitted to a poetry contest held in the Tenryaku era of Emperor Murakami.
Minamoto no Shitagō, of the Saga Genji line, was a scholar and poet of the mid-Heian period. As one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber he took part in compiling the Gosenshū, and he compiled the dictionary Wamyō Ruijushō. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "kōri dani," uses the adverbial particle "dani" of inference: "even the hard ice."
Second line, "tomaranu haru no," means "of spring, in which not even ice can remain."
Third line, "tanikaze ni," is the spring wind sweeping through the valley, drawing on the old idea that spring winds melt the ice.
Fourth line, "mada uchitokenu," is a pivot word combining ice that "melts" with the warbler's voice that "loosens" and grows at ease. It creates the contrast that, though the ice has melted, the warbler does not yet sing freely.
Final line, "uguisu no koe," ends on a noun and shares its final line with the preceding poem. Where that poem sang of waiting for the warbler, this one captures the stiffness of a voice just beginning, moving from waiting to hearing.
Author: Minamoto no Shitagō
Source: Shui Wakashu
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