Teru tsuki no kage saenureba asajihara yuki no shita ni mo mushi wa nakikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

照る月の影冴えぬれば浅茅原
雪の下にも虫は鳴きけり

Roma-ji: Teru tsuki no kage saenureba asajihara yuki no shita ni mo mushi wa nakikeri
English Translation: The shining moon's light
has grown so cold and clear
that on the cogon field
even underneath the snow
I hear the insects cry
Meaning: The light of the shining moon is so cold and clear that the cogon field looks covered in snow, and even under that snow the insects are crying.
Commentary: Book Four Autumn Poems I 295

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Insects Before the Moon'"
Composed on the topic "Insects Before the Moon." The light of the shining moon is so cold and clear that the cogon field looks white, as if covered with snow, and even beneath that snow the insects are crying. Likening moonlight to snow, the poem conveys the keen beauty of an autumn moonlit night through the surprising pairing of insects singing under snow.
The author, "Priest Raien," was a monk whose life is not well known.
After a run of poems likening moonlight to ice, this one likens it to snow. This poem's third line and the first line of the next poem, 296, are both "asajihara," and the book's final poem, 301, also opens with "teru tsuki no."

First line, "teru tsuki no": "of the shining moon." The book's final poem, 301, opens with the same line.
Second line, "kage saenureba": "kage" is the moonlight, "sae" means cold and clear, and "nure" is the realized form of the perfective "nu": "since its light has grown keen."
Third line, "asajihara": a field covered with low cogon grass. The next poem, 296, also opens with "asajihara."
Fourth line, "yuki no shita ni mo": seeing the cogon field lit white by the moon as snow, "even under the snow."
Fifth line, "mushi wa nakikeri": "keri" expresses realization. The unexpected pairing of insects singing beneath snow expresses the topic "Insects Before the Moon."
Author: Raien
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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