Tsuki no sumu asaji ni sudaku kirigirisu tsuyu no oku ni ya aki o shiruran

月の澄む浅茅にすだくきりぎりす
露の置くにや秋を知るらん

Roma-ji: Tsuki no sumu asaji ni sudaku kirigirisu tsuyu no oku ni ya aki o shiruran
English Translation: In the low grass where
the moon shines so clear, crickets
gather and they sing:
is it by the settling dew
that they come to know autumn?
Meaning: The crickets gathered singing in the low grass where the moon shines clear: is it by the settling of the dew that they know autumn has come?
Commentary: Autumn Poems 393

Headnote: "Insects before the moon"
The topic is insects singing before the moon. In the low cogon grass where the moonlight shines clear, crickets gather and sing; do they know autumn has come by the dew settling on the grass? Layering moon, low grass, dew and insects, the poet imagines the crickets' own sense of autumn's coming.
Kirigirisu in old usage meant what is now called the cricket. Insect voices were first sung in this book in 298, and from here two poems on insects before the moon follow.

First line, “tsuki no sumu”: where the moon shines clear, modifying asaji in the second line.
Second line, “asaji ni sudaku”: sudaku is for insects to gather and sing.
Third line, “kirigirisu”: in old usage the cricket, subject of the following lines.
Fourth line, “tsuyu no oku ni ya”: ya is a question particle answering ran in the last line, by the settling of the dew.
Fifth line, “aki o shiruran”: ran is present conjecture in the attributive form required by ya, do they know autumn.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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