Sazarenami yosuru aya oba aoyagi no kage no ito shite oru ka to zo miru - Tosa Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

さざれ浪よするあやをば靑柳の
かげのいとして織るかとぞ見る

Roma-ji: Sazarenami yosuru aya oba aoyagi no kage no ito shite oru ka to zo miru
English Translation: The rippling wavelets
weave their twill patterns, and I
see them as cloth spun
with threads from the reflections
of the green willows' branches
Meaning: The patterns the ripples bring ashore look to me like twill woven with threads drawn from the green willows' reflections.
Commentary: 50 The Eleventh Day of the Second Month: Yawata Shrine and the Willows of Yamazaki

On the eleventh day of the second month, a little rain fell and then stopped. As they made their way upstream, they saw a mountain lying across the east and asked about it, and were told it was "Yawata Shrine." Hearing this, the people rejoiced and bowed in worship. The bridge of Yamazaki came into view as well, and their happiness knew no bounds. They moored the boat for a while near Sōō-ji temple, where there were various matters to settle.
Yawata Shrine is Iwashimizu Hachimangū, in present-day Yawata City, Kyoto Prefecture. Yamazaki lies around present-day Ōyamazaki Town in Kyoto Prefecture, an important point just before entering the capital.
Along the bank by Sōō-ji there were many willows, and seeing their reflections on the riverbed, a certain person composed this poem.
The diary records no response. After this the party stayed at Yamazaki from the twelfth, and on the fourteenth sent to the capital for carriages.

The first line, "Sazarenami," means fine, rippling wavelets. In the second line, "yosuru aya oba," "aya" overlays the patterns traced by the ripples with twill-woven cloth. The third line, "aoyagi no," means "of the green willows."
The fourth line, "kage no ito shite," means "using the reflected willow branches as thread," seeing the slender willow branches as threads. In the final line, "oru ka to zo miru," "zo" is an emphatic particle, closing with the attributive form "miru" in a kakari-musubi construction.
"Aya" (twill), "ito" (thread) and "oru" (to weave) are associated words drawn from weaving, and the poem sees the pattern of the ripples as twill woven from the threads of willow branches reflected in the water. It sings of the calm, lovely river scene as it appears to a party whose hearts have lightened as the capital draws near.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Tosa Nikki
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