Tōzakaru oto wa senedomo tsuki kiyomi kōri to miyuru Shiga no uranami - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

遠ざかる音はせねども月清み
氷と見ゆる志賀の浦波

Roma-ji: Tōzakaru oto wa senedomo tsuki kiyomi kōri to miyuru Shiga no uranami
English Translation: Though I hear no sound
of waves receding far away,
the moon is so clear
that they seem to be of ice,
the waves of Shiga's bay
Meaning: Though I hear no sound of waves drawing away, the moon is so clear that the waves of Shiga's bay look as if they were made of ice.
Commentary: Book Four Autumn Poems I 289

Headnote: "Composed when moon poems were composed at the house of the Hosshōji Lay Priest and Former Chancellor"
Composed when moon poems were composed at the residence of the Hosshōji Lay Priest and Former Chancellor, Fujiwara no Tadamichi. The water's edge has not frozen, so the sound of the waves does not recede, yet the moon is so clear that the waves of Shiga's bay look like ice. Drawing on an older poem of a winter scene in which the shore freezes, the poem depicts the autumn moonlight making the lake's waves look like ice.
The author, "Assistant Governor-General of Dazaifu Shigeie," is Fujiwara no Shigeie, son of Master of the Western Capital Fujiwara no Akisuke, who rose to Assistant Governor-General of Dazaifu. The younger brother of Fujiwara no Kiyosuke, he was a poet of the Rokujō Fujiwara house.
Its foundation poem is Priest Kakai's in the Goshūi Wakashū, "As the night grows late, does the water's edge freeze? The waves of Shiga's bay draw farther away." Where that poem told of the sound of waves receding as the shore froze, this one says the sound does not recede, yet in the moonlight the waves look like ice. Poem 294 of this book also sings of the waves of Karasaki in Shiga and moonlight as ice, answering this poem.

First line, "tōzakaru": "the sound of the waves receding," drawing on "tōzakariyuku" in the foundation poem.
Second line, "oto wa senedomo": "ne" is the realized form of the negative "zu" and "domo" concessive: "though there is no such sound," showing that the shore has not in fact frozen.
Third line, "tsuki kiyomi": the suffix "mi" gives a cause, "because the moon is so clear."
Fourth line, "kōri to miyuru": "that look like ice." "Fuyu no kōri" in 279 and "kienu kōri" in 294 of this book also liken moonlight to ice.
Fifth line, "Shiga no uranami": ends on a noun, the waves lapping Shiga's bay on the western shore of Lake Biwa, taking the foundation poem's last line as it is.
Author: Fujiwara no Shigeie
Source: Senzai Wakashu
Prev Poem: Aki no yo ya ama no kawase wa kōruran tsuki no hikari no saemasaru kana
Next Poem: Tsune yori mo mi ni zo shimikeru aki no no ni tsuki sumu yowa no ogi no uwakaze