Minasoko ni shikarenikeri na samidarete mizu no makomo o kari ni kitareba

水底に敷かれにけりなさみだれて
水の真菰を刈りに来たれば

Roma-ji: Minasoko ni shikarenikeri na samidarete mizu no makomo o kari ni kitareba
English Translation: To the water's depths
they have sunk and lie flattened,
tangled in the rain,
the wild rice of the water,
when I came to cut it down.
Meaning: When I came to cut the wild rice in the water, I found it had sunk to the bottom, flattened and tangled by the early summer rains.
Commentary: Summer Poems 221

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When fifteen poems on the early summer rains were composed at a certain place, written on behalf of another"
This is the seventh of the fifteen poems. Coming to the water's edge to cut wild rice, the poet finds that the rains have swollen the water and the plants lie tangled and flattened on the bottom as if spread there.
In 207 of this book the poet could not cut the wild rice among the rocks and passed the days empty-handed; here the wild rice he came to cut has sunk to the bottom, depicting the same harvest from another scene.

First line, “minasoko ni”: at the bottom of the water.
Second line, “shikarenikeri na”: shikare means lying flattened and spread, nikeri expresses realization and na exclamation; the poem breaks after the second line and the lower verse is inverted.
Third line, “samidarete”: a pivot word joining samidare, the early summer rains, and sa-midare, to be tangled, showing the wild rice beaten down by the rains.
Fourth line, “mizu no makomo o”: the wild rice growing in the water.
Fifth line, “kari ni kitareba”: the perfective form with ba, when I came to cut it, giving the scene of the discovery in the second line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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Next Poem: Samidare no oyamu harema no nakarame ya mizu no kasa hose makomo karu fune