Kibunegawa tama chiru seze no iwanami ni kōri o kudaku aki no yo no tsuki - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

貴船川玉散る瀬々の岩波に
氷を砕く秋の夜の月

Roma-ji: Kibunegawa tama chiru seze no iwanami ni kōri o kudaku aki no yo no tsuki
English Translation: Kibune River,
where on every shallow's rocks
the waves scatter jewels,
shattering them into ice,
the moon of an autumn night
Meaning: On the Kibune River, where the waves break on the rocks of every shallow and scatter like jewels, the moon of an autumn night seems to shatter ice.
Commentary: Book Twenty Shinto Poems 1274

Headnote: "Composed as a poem on the moon at the second poetry contest of the same shrine"
He composed this as a poem on the moon at a later poetry contest at the same Kamo Shrine. On the Kibune River, in the rock-dashed waves of the shallows where jewels scatter, the autumn moon shatters ice, he says. He pictures moonlight caught in the spray of the swift Kibune as it breaks on the rocks as if the cold, clear light were shattering ice, vividly capturing the chill, limpid beauty of an autumn night.
The author, "Shunzei, Master of the Empress Dowager's Household," is Fujiwara no Shunzei. A son of the Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Toshitada, he rose to master of the empress dowager's household and later took the tonsure. He compiled this anthology, the Senzai Wakashū, and was the father of Fujiwara no Teika.
1270 in this book also sings of the Kibune River; that poem overlays the swift current with the swiftness of the god's power, while this one sings of moonlight shattering in the rapids. Like the preceding poem, 1273, it comes from a poetry contest at the Kamo Shrine.

First line, "Kibunegawa": the swift river flowing past the Kibune Shrine in Yamashiro, the same river as "Kibunegawa" in the third line of 1270 in this book.
Second line, "tama chiru seze no": "tama chiru" is spray flying like scattered jewels, and "seze" are the shallows here and there.
Third line, "iwanami ni": "iwanami" are waves breaking against rocks.
Fourth line, "kōri o kudaku": the cold moonlight on the waves is seen as ice, the light shattering along with the breaking waves.
Fifth line, "aki no yo no tsuki": closing on a noun, it gathers the whole scene into the moon.
Author: Fujiwara no Shunzei
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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