Ishima yuku Mitarashigawa no oto saete tsuki ya musubanu kōri naruran - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

石間行く御手洗川の音冴えて
月や結ばぬ氷なるらん

Roma-ji: Ishima yuku Mitarashigawa no oto saete tsuki ya musubanu kōri naruran
English Translation: Flowing through the stones,
the Mitarashi River
rings with a cold sound:
is the moonlight then a sheet
of ice that never forms?
Meaning: The Mitarashi River flowing among the stones rings cold and clear. Could the moonlight on it be a kind of ice that never freezes solid?
Commentary: Book Four Autumn Poems I 293

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed when the chief priest Shigeyasu held the Later Poetry Contest of the Kamo Shrine"
Like the preceding poem, this was composed for the Later Poetry Contest of the Kamo Shrine. The sound of the Mitarashi River flowing among the stones of the Kamo Shrine rings cold and clear, and the poet wonders whether the moonlight on its surface is ice that has never frozen solid. With the image of moonlight looking like ice on running water that does not freeze, it depicts the clear river of the Kamo Shrine and the keen moon.
The author, "Fujiwara no Kintoki Ason," was the son of Provisional Major Counselor Fujiwara no Sanekuni.
The Mitarashi River flows through the grounds of the Kamo Shrine, where worshippers wash their hands and rinse their mouths. The "kienu kōri," ice that does not melt, of the next poem, 294, pairs with this poem's "musubanu kōri," ice that does not form, continuing the poems that liken moonlight to ice.

First line, "ishima yuku": "flowing among the stones."
Second line, "Mitarashigawa no": the Mitarashi River flowing through the grounds of the Kamo Shrine, tied to the shrine's poetry contest in the headnote.
Third line, "oto saete": "its sound ringing cold and clear." Poems 276 and 288 of this book also use "saeru."
Fourth line, "tsuki ya musubanu": "musubu" means for water to freeze solid, and "nu" is the attributive of the negative "zu." The interrogative "ya" links with "ran" in the last line.
Fifth line, "kōri naruran": "ran," the attributive of present conjecture, closes with "ya," seeing the moonlight as ice that never freezes. It pairs with "kienu kōri" in the next poem, 294.
Author: Fujiwara no Kintoki
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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