Hatsushimo ya okihajimu ran akatsuki no kane no oto koso hono kikoyu nare - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

初霜や置きはじむらん暁の
鐘の音こそほの聞こゆなれ

Roma-ji: Hatsushimo ya okihajimu ran akatsuki no kane no oto koso hono kikoyu nare
English Translation: Has the first frost
begun to settle on the ground?
In the hour of dawn
the tolling of the temple bell
reaches me so faintly
Meaning: Has the first frost begun to settle? The bell at dawn comes to me faintly.
Commentary: Book Six Winter Poems 397

Headnote: "Composed as a poem on early winter when a hundred-poem sequence was presented"
Composed as a poem on early winter for a hundred-poem sequence, Retired Emperor Sutoku's Kyūan Hyakushu. The bell at dawn comes faintly to his ears, the poet says, so has the first frost begun to settle? Drawing on the Chinese tale that a bell rings when frost falls, he imagines the unseen first frost from the sound of the bell at dawn.
The author, "Ōimikado Udaijin," is Fujiwara no Kin'yoshi, son of Minister of the Left Fujiwara no Saneyoshi, who rose to Minister of the Right. He was one of the authors of Retired Emperor Sutoku's Kyūan Hyakushu.
The ancient Chinese book Shanhaijing tells of nine bells on Mount Feng that rang when frost fell, a precedent for linking frost and bells in poetry. The next poem, 398, draws on the same tale, and the two form a pair.

First line, "hatsushimo ya": "hatsushimo" is the first frost of the winter, and the interrogative "ya" closes with the attributive "ran" in the second line.
Second line, "okihajimu ran": "oku" is for frost to settle, and the present conjecture "ran" guesses at the unseen frost. The poem pauses here.
Third line, "akatsuki no": the dark hour before daybreak. The next poem, 398, sings of the same hour with "akatsuki kakete."
Fourth line, "kane no oto koso": the emphatic "koso" closes with "nare" in the perfective form in the last line, showing that while the frost is unseen, the bell at least is heard.
Fifth line, "hono kikoyu nare": "hono" is "faintly," and "nare" is the perfective form of "nari," inferring from sound.
Author: Fujiwara no Kinyoshi
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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