Tabine suru kusa no makura ni shimo saete ariake no tsuki no kage zo mataruru

旅寝する草の枕に霜冴えて
有明の月の影ぞ待たるる

Roma-ji: Tabine suru kusa no makura ni shimo saete ariake no tsuki no kage zo mataruru
English Translation: Sleeping on my way,
on the pillow made of grass
the frost lies freezing,
and the dawn moon lingering
I find myself waiting for.
Meaning: Sleeping on my journey with grass for a pillow, the frost lies frozen there, and I find myself waiting for the light of the moon that lingers into dawn.
Commentary: Winter Poems 516

Headnote: "Lodging on a journey on a cold night"
The topic is lodging on a journey on a cold night. Sleeping on the road with grass for a pillow, the poet cannot sleep for the cold of the frost on his pillow, and finds himself waiting for the light of the moon that rises toward dawn. The hardship of a sleepless night on the road is expressed through the heart that waits for the moon.
The poem sets the cold of a winter night in a traveler's makeshift lodging, pairing with the poems around it that tell of winter in a mountain dwelling.

First line, “tabine suru”: sleeping on a journey.
Second line, “kusa no makura ni”: kusa no makura, a pillow of grass, is a makeshift bed on a journey.
Third line, “shimo saete”: sayu is to be chill, the frost lying cold.
Fourth line, “ariake no tsuki no”: a hypermetric line of eight syllables; ariake no tsuki is the moon that remains in the sky as day breaks.
Fifth line, “kage zo mataruru”: zo is an emphatic particle and ruru the attributive of the spontaneous auxiliary ru, I cannot help but wait; it closes the binding.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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