Naku koe wa mada kikanedomo semi no ha no usuki koromo wa tachi zo kitekeru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

鳴く声はまだ聞かねども蝉の羽の
薄き衣は裁ちぞ着てける

Roma-ji: Naku koe wa mada kikanedomo semi no ha no usuki koromo wa tachi zo kitekeru
English Translation: Though I have not yet
heard the voices of their song,
like the cicada's wings,
the robe so thin and so light
I have cut and put it on.
Meaning: I have not yet heard the cicadas sing, yet I have already cut and put on a summer robe as thin as a cicada's wings.
Commentary: Book Two Summer Poems 79

Headnote: "For the poetry contest in the reign of Tenryaku"
Though the cicadas cannot yet be heard, the poet has already cut and put on a summer robe as thin as their wings, marking the arrival of summer through the change of clothing. The charm lies in reversing the usual order, so that the robe announces summer before the cicada itself, and the poem conveys the lightness of early summer as befits the opening of the summer book. According to the headnote, it was submitted to a poetry contest held in the Tenryaku era of Emperor Murakami.
Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu was a poet of the mid-Heian period from the Ōnakatomi family, who served as chief priests of the Ise Shrine. As one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber he took part in compiling the Gosenshū and in reading the Man'yōshū, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "naku koe wa," refers to the singing of the cicadas. Whereas poem 1 of Book One opened spring with the calendar's beginning of spring, this book opens summer with a change in daily life, the changing of clothes.
Second line, "mada kikanedomo," means "though I have not yet heard," with the concessive particle "domo." It shows that the season has come before the ear can confirm it.
Third line, "semi no ha no," means "like a cicada's wings," a simile leading to "usuki" (thin) in the fourth line. The poem's ingenuity lies in drawing summer not from the cicada itself but from the thinness of its wings.
Fourth line, "usuki koromo wa," is the thin robe worn in summer. The changing of clothes and summer robes appear again in 81 and 82 of this book, and this poem leads the way.
Final line, "tachi zo kitekeru," says the robe has been cut, sewn and already put on. The particle "zo" is resolved by the attributive "keru," forming a kakari-musubi construction.
Author: Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Source: Shui Wakashu
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