Izumigawa mizu no miwata no fushizuke ni shibama no kōru fuyu wa kinikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

泉川水のみわたのふしづけに
柴間の氷る冬は来にけり

Roma-ji: Izumigawa mizu no miwata no fushizuke ni shibama no kōru fuyu wa kinikeri
English Translation: At Izumi River,
in the bend of its waters,
the sunken brushwood:
now among the twigs ice forms,
and winter has come at last
Meaning: Winter has come, when ice forms among the twigs of the brushwood traps sunk in the bends of the Izumi River.
Commentary: Book Six Winter Poems 389

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the topic 'Early Winter' when a hundred-poem sequence was presented in the reign of Emperor Horikawa"
Composed on the topic of early winter for the Horikawa Hyakushu. Winter has come, the poet says, when even the gaps among the brushwood traps sunk in the bends of the Izumi River freeze. Turning his eye to the familiar sight of a river fishing trap, he confirms the arrival of winter by the ice forming in the narrow spaces between the twigs.
The author, "Fujiwara no Nakazane Ason," was the son of Fujiwara no Yoshinari. A poet of the cloistered-rule period, he was one of the authors of the hundred-poem sequences presented to Emperor Horikawa, known as the Horikawa Hyakushu.
This poem and the two that follow, through 389, are poems on early winter from the Horikawa Hyakushu. In the Horikawa Hyakushu, poets such as Minamoto no Toshiyori and Fujiwara no Kinzane each composed a hundred poems on shared topics in Horikawa's reign, and it became the model for later hundred-poem sequences.
The fourth line of the main text reads "shibama no kōru," which does not match "shibama mo kōru" in the line of readings. Here the main text is followed.

First line, "Izumigawa": a river in Yamashiro Province, today's Kizu River, often sung of as a poetic place.
Second line, "mizu no miwata no": "miwata" is a place where the flow of water bends and winds.
Third line, "fushizuke ni": "fushizuke" is a brushwood trap, bundles of twigs sunk in the water to catch the fish that gather there.
Fourth line, "shibama no kōru": "shibama" are the gaps between the sunken twigs, and ice forms even in those narrow spaces.
Fifth line, "fuyu wa kinikeri": "keri" expresses realization, "winter has come," closing the poem. 393 of this book ends with the same line.
Author: Fujiwara no Nakazane
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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