Mizu tatau iwama no makomo karikanete munade ni suguru samidare no koro

水湛ふ岩間の真菰刈りかねて
空手に過ぐる五月雨の頃

Roma-ji: Mizu tatau iwama no makomo karikanete munade ni suguru samidare no koro
English Translation: Water brimming high,
the wild rice between the rocks
I cannot cut down,
and I pass with empty hands
in this time of summer rains.
Meaning: The water has risen so high among the rocks that the wild rice cannot be cut, and the days of the early summer rains pass with empty hands.
Commentary: Summer Poems 207

Headnote: "Early summer rains"
This poem was composed on the topic of the early summer rains, and rain poems continue from here. The rains have swollen the water, the wild rice among the rocks is sunk beneath it and cannot be cut, and the days pass with empty hands. Through the lives of people whose work is stopped by the long rains, the poem depicts the season.
Like 201 of this book, which feared that irises could not be laid on the eaves unless the marsh's water fell, this poem tells of waterside plants that cannot be cut because of the long rains, repeating the idea of swollen waters hindering life at the water's edge.

First line, “mizu tatau”: the water is full to the brim.
Second line, “iwama no makomo”: makomo is a grass growing at the water's edge, cut for mats and the like.
Third line, “karikanete”: kane expresses being unable to do something even when one tries.
Fourth line, “munade ni suguru”: munade means having nothing in one's hands, empty-handed.
Fifth line, “samidare no koro”: the poem ends on a noun, presenting the scene of the rainy season. This closing line recurs often in the poems that follow, linking the group of rain poems.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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