Natsu no yo mo ozasa ga hara ni shimo zo oku tsuki no hikari no saeshi watareba

夏の夜も小笹が原に霜ぞ置く
月の光の冴えし渡れば

Roma-ji: Natsu no yo mo ozasa ga hara ni shimo zo oku tsuki no hikari no saeshi watareba
English Translation: Even summer nights,
on the field of bamboo grass
frost is lying white,
for the moonlight everywhere
spreads so cold and clear.
Meaning: Even on a summer night, frost seems to lie on the field of bamboo grass, for the moonlight spreads everywhere so cold and clear.
Commentary: Summer Poems 245

Headnote: "Composing poems on the summer moon"
The headnote shows that this is one of the poems composed on the summer moon. Though it is a summer night, the field of bamboo grass looks white as if frost had settled on it, because the moonlight spreads cold and clear over everything. The poem likens the whitening moonlight to frost.
Likening moonlight to frost calls up a winter scene, and the coolness lies in seeing winter frost on a summer night. Following 242 of this book, where the summer moon by the sea seemed to vie with autumn, here the summer moon suggests winter frost, so the device of seeing another season in the summer moon recurs.

First line, “natsu no yo mo”: mo gives the sense even on a summer night.
Second line, “ozasa ga hara ni”: a field where small bamboo grass grows.
Third line, “shimo zo oku”: zo is answered by the attributive oku, declaring that frost lies there; the moonlight is likened to frost, with a break after the third line.
Fourth line, “tsuki no hikari no”: reveals that what looked like frost is moonlight.
Fifth line, “saeshi watareba”: shi is an emphatic particle; because the moonlight spreads cold and clear everywhere, giving the reason for the third line afterwards in an inversion.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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