Asaborake Uji no kawagiri taedae ni arawarewataru seze no ajirogi - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

朝ぼらけ宇治の川霧絶え絶えに
現れわたる瀬々の網代木

Roma-ji: Asaborake Uji no kawagiri taedae ni arawarewataru seze no ajirogi
English Translation: In the faint dawn light
the river mist of Uji
thins and breaks apart,
and one by one there come to view
the weir stakes in the shallows
Meaning: As dawn breaks dimly, the river mist on the Uji thins here and there, and through the gaps the weir stakes in the shallows appear one after another.
Commentary: Book Six Winter Poems 420

Headnote: "Composed when he had gone to Uji"
Composed when he had gone to Uji. As dawn breaks dimly, the poet says, the river mist on the Uji thins here and there, and through its gaps the weir stakes set in the shallows appear one after another. On the Uji River in the early winter morning he quietly depicts the scene revealing itself little by little as the mist lifts. It is a famous poem, also included in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu.
The author, "Middle Counselor Sadayori," is Fujiwara no Sadayori, son of Major Counselor Fujiwara no Kintō, who rose to Provisional Middle Counselor. Called the Shijō Middle Counselor, he also excelled at calligraphy and music. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals of the middle period.
The preceding poem, 419, was sent by Sadayori's daughter in concern for her father in the mountain village. This is a poem by Sadayori himself, so the poems of daughter and father stand side by side. The "ajiro" were traps for catching icefish in the Uji River in winter, the scene that typifies Uji in that season.

First line, "asaborake": the time when night dimly gives way to dawn.
Second line, "Uji no kawagiri": the mist over the Uji River. Uji is a place in Yamashiro Province, and its river is often sung of as a poetic place.
Third line, "taedae ni": "here and there, in breaks," the mist beginning to lift.
Fourth line, "arawarewataru": "wataru" adds "all across, one after another," the weir stakes coming into view through the gaps in the mist.
Fifth line, "seze no ajirogi": the poem ends on a noun. "Seze" are the shallows here and there, and "ajirogi" are the stakes driven into the river to hold the weirs.
Author: Fujiwara no Sadayori
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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