Shimo dani mo okanu kata zo to iu naredo nami no naka ni wa yuki zo furikeru - Tosa Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

霜だにもおかぬかたぞといふなれど
浪の中にはゆきぞ降りける

Roma-ji: Shimo dani mo okanu kata zo to iu naredo nami no naka ni wa yuki zo furikeru
English Translation: Though they say this is
a land where not even frost
ever comes to lie,
within the waves, even so,
snow is falling, white and thick
Meaning: They say this is a land where not even frost settles, yet within the waves the snow is falling.
Commentary: 25 The Sixteenth Day of the First Month: Waiting to Round the Cape

On the sixteenth day of the first month the wind and waves still did not let up, and the party remained where it was. All anyone could think was that they wanted the sea to calm so they could quickly cross the place called Misaki. But neither wind nor waves showed any sign of stopping.
Misaki is Cape Muroto, a perilous point on the sea route from Tosa toward Awa.
Seeing the waves rise, a certain person composed this poem.
The diary records no response. It goes on to note that twenty-five days had now passed since the day they boarded, underscoring how long they had been held back.

In the first line, "Shimo dani mo," "dani" is an adverbial particle meaning "even": not even frost. The second line, "okanu kata zo to," means "a land where it does not fall," referring to the warmth of southern Tosa. In the third line, "iu naredo," "nare" is the realis form of the hearsay auxiliary "nari": though people say so.
The fourth and final lines, "nami no naka ni wa yuki zo furikeru," close with "yet within the waves snow is falling." "Zo" is an emphatic particle, completing a kakari-musubi construction with the attributive form "keru."
The poem sees the white spray of breaking waves as snow, and its charm lies in the contrast: in a warm land where not even frost falls, snow falls only within the waves. On the eighteenth day of the first month, too, poems seeing white waves as snow and blossoms follow one after another.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Tosa Nikki
Prev Poem: Tateba tatsu ireba mata iru fuku kaze to nami to wa omou dochi ni ya aruramu
Next Poem: Minasoko no tsuki no ue yori kogu fune no sao ni sawaru wa katsura narurashi