Shimo uzumu mugura ga shita no kirigirisu aru ka naki ka no koe kikoyu nari

霜うづむ葎が下のきりぎりす
あるかなきかの声聞こゆなり

Roma-ji: Shimo uzumu mugura ga shita no kirigirisu aru ka naki ka no koe kikoyu nari
English Translation: Under frost-buried
tangles of weeds, a cricket,
the voice of the cricket,
so faint I hardly know it's there,
I seem to hear it calling.
Meaning: Beneath the tangled weeds buried in frost, I hear a cricket's voice, so faint I can hardly tell whether it is there or not.
Commentary: Winter Poems 493

Headnote: "Composed when, around the beginning of the tenth month, I went to a mountain village and heard the faint voice of a cricket"
The headnote tells us this was composed when the poet visited a mountain village around the beginning of the tenth month by the old calendar and heard the faint voice of a cricket. From beneath weeds covered with frost comes the cricket's fading voice, and the poem catches the frailty of an autumn insect lingering on into winter.
The voices of insects sung so often in the autumn section survive here only faintly at the start of winter, and the poem conveys the passage from autumn to winter through sound.

First line, “shimo uzumu”: frost covering everything, showing the cold of early winter in the mountain village.
Second line, “mugura ga shita no”: mugura are the weeds that grow rank in neglected gardens and fields, expressing the wildness of the village.
Third line, “kirigirisu”: kirigirisu is the old name for what is now called the cricket.
Fourth line, “aru ka naki ka no”: so faint that one cannot tell whether it is there or not, stressing how weak the voice is.
Fifth line, “koe kikoyu nari”: nari is the auxiliary of inference from sound, I seem to hear it, faintly.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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