classic waka stream

さゆと見えて冬深くなる月影は
水なき庭に氷をぞ敷く
Roma-ji

Sayu to miete fuyu fukaku naru tsukikage wa mizu naki niwa ni kōri o zo shiku

English Translation
Cold and clear it seems,
as the winter deepens on,
the light of the moon:
on my garden where no water is
it spreads a sheet of ice.
Meaning
Seeming colder and clearer as winter deepens, the moonlight spreads a sheet of ice across my garden, where there is no water at all.
Commentary
Winter Poems 522

Headnote: "The winter moon over the garden"
The topic is the winter moon over the garden. The moonlight, which seems colder and clearer as winter deepens, falls white upon a garden with no water in it, so that it looks as if a sheet of ice had been spread over it. The white moonlight on the garden is likened to ice.
Poem 561 in this book also ends with kōri o zo shiku, there describing real ice spread over the pool of the Ōi River. The ice shown by the moonlight answers the true ice on the river.

First line, “sayu to miete”: a hypermetric line of six syllables; sayu is to be cold and clear, seeming cold and clear.
Second line, “fuyu fukaku naru”: as winter deepens.
Third line, “tsukikage wa”: tsukikage is the light of the moon.
Fourth line, “mizu naki niwa ni”: on a garden without water, showing the surprise of ice where there is no water.
Fifth line, “kōri o zo shiku”: zo is an emphatic particle binding with the attributive shiku, closing on the moonlight likened to ice spread over the garden.
Author
Saigyō
Source
Sankashu
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