Shimogare no Naniwa no ashi no honobono to akuru minato ni chidori naku nari - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

霜枯れの難波の葦のほのぼのと
明くる湊に千鳥鳴くなり

Roma-ji: Shimogare no Naniwa no ashi no honobono to akuru minato ni chidori naku nari
English Translation: In the frost-withered
reeds of Naniwa, the plumes
faintly come to view,
and in the harbor as dawn grows pale
I hear the plovers crying
Meaning: Over the harbor where dawn breaks faintly, as the plumes of the frost-withered reeds of Naniwa show dimly, I hear the plovers crying.
Commentary: Book Six Winter Poems 428

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on plovers"
Composed on the topic of plovers. Over the harbor where dawn breaks faintly, as the plumes of the frost-withered reeds of Naniwa show dimly, the poet hears the plovers crying. He paints the harbor of Naniwa at a winter daybreak with frost-withered reeds and the voices of plovers, conveying a lonely scene in pale light.
The author, "Kamo no Nariyasu," came from a family of priests of the Kamo Shrine, but little is known of his life.
The five poems from 424 to 428 are poems on plovers. Plovers, crying along winter rivers and shores, were counted among the sights of winter. This poem closes the group, taking up the endless night of the preceding poem, 427, and ending the plover poems in a harbor where dawn is breaking.

First line, "shimogare no": "withered by frost." 449 of this book opens with the same line.
Second line, "Naniwa no ashi no": Naniwa, in Settsu Province, is a poetic place famed for its reeds. The first two lines serve as a preface leading to "honobono."
Third line, "honobono to": "ho" is a pivot word joining the "ho," the plumes of the reeds, and "honobono," the faint breaking of dawn.
Fourth line, "akuru minato ni": "aku" is for night to break, and "minato" is a harbor where boats lie. Against the "akeyarazu" of the preceding poem, 427, here the night is breaking.
Fifth line, "chidori naku nari": the same last line as 424 of this book, so that the same words stand at the beginning and end of the plover poems.
Author: Kamo no Nariyasu
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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