Kage saete tsuki shimo koto ni suminureba natsu no ike ni mo tsurara inikeri

影冴えて月しもことに澄みぬれば
夏の池にもつらら居にけり

Roma-ji: Kage saete tsuki shimo koto ni suminureba natsu no ike ni mo tsurara inikeri
English Translation: Bright the light, so clear,
for the moon shines out tonight
with a special gleam,
even on the summer pond
ice has formed, it seems to me.
Meaning: The moonlight is so cold and the moon so especially clear that even the summer pond seems to have frozen over with ice.
Commentary: Summer Poems 247

Headnote: "The summer moon over a pond"
This poem was composed on the topic of the summer moon over a pond. Because the moonlight is so especially cold and clear, the surface of the summer pond under its light looks as though it has frozen over.
Following frost in 245 and hail in 246 of this book, here the moonlight is likened to ice on the pond, so three poems in a row liken the summer moon to wintry things.

First line, “kage saete”: kage is moonlight, shining cold and clear.
Second line, “tsuki shimo koto ni”: shimo is emphatic, and koto ni means especially.
Third line, “suminureba”: the perfective form with ba, since it is perfectly clear.
Fourth line, “natsu no ike ni mo”: mo implies even on a pond in summer, not winter.
Fifth line, “tsurara inikeri”: tsurara is ice, and iru is for ice to form; nikeri is an exclamation confirming the likening, ice has formed.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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