Toshi kurenu haru kubeshi to wa omoine ni masashiku miete kanau hatsuyume

年暮れぬ春来べしとは思ひ寝に
まさしく見えてかなふ初夢

Roma-ji: Toshi kurenu haru kubeshi to wa omoine ni masashiku miete kanau hatsuyume
English Translation: The year has run out;
thinking, spring is sure to come,
I fell asleep so,
and plainly it appeared to me:
the first dream that has come true.
Meaning: The old year has ended. I fell asleep thinking that spring must surely come, and just as I had hoped, it appeared plainly in my dream: my first dream of the year has come true.
Commentary: Spring Poems 1

Headnote: "Composed on the morning when spring arrived"
This poem, composed on the morning that spring began, stands at the very opening of the Sankashū. Falling asleep at year's end with the thought that spring must come, the poet sees it clearly in a dream, and on waking finds that spring has truly arrived.
The headnote places the poem on the day of risshun, the first day of spring. It draws on the belief that what one holds in mind as one falls asleep will appear in one's dreams, and celebrates the arrival of spring as a dream that has come true. The spring section closes with 173, a poem lamenting the departing spring at dusk, so the morning that welcomes spring and the evening that sees it off frame the section from beginning to end.

First line, “toshi kurenu”: the perfective auxiliary nu declares that the old year is over, making a break after the first line.
Second line, “haru kubeshi to wa”: beshi expresses the firm expectation that spring will come, and to wa marks this expectation as the content of the thought carried into sleep.
Third line, “omoine ni”: omoine means falling asleep while thinking of something; it was believed that what one thought of would then appear in one's dream.
Fourth line, “masashiku miete”: masashiku indicates that the dream matched reality, in other words that it was a true dream.
Fifth line, “kanau hatsuyume”: the poem closes on a noun, expressing the coming of spring as the fulfilment of the year's first dream.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
Next Poem: Yama no ha no kasumu keshiki ni shiruki kana kesa yori ya sa wa haru no akebono