Ikemizu ni soko kiyoku sumu tsukikage wa nami ni kōri o shikiwatasu kana

池水に底清く澄む月影は
波に氷を敷き渡すかな

Roma-ji: Ikemizu ni soko kiyoku sumu tsukikage wa nami ni kōri o shikiwatasu kana
English Translation: In the pond's water,
clear down to its very depths,
the moonlight dwells—
and across the rippling waves
it spreads out a sheet of ice.
Meaning: The moonlight, clear down to the depths of the pond, seems to lay a sheet of ice across the waves.
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1474

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Poems on the Moon"
The second of the ten poems on the moon. The moonlight reflected clear to the depths of the pond seems to spread a sheet of ice over the waves.
Likening moonlight to ice is a traditional conceit, and here the cold, clear light spreading over the whole surface is expressed as ice laid across it. Against the seaside bay of the preceding poem, this poem takes the moon in the near surface of a pond, setting two scenes of different scale side by side.

First line, “ikemizu ni”: in the water of the pond.
Second line, “soko kiyoku sumu”: clear down to the bottom; the line has an extra syllable.
Third line, “tsukikage wa”: the moonlight.
Fourth line, “nami ni kōri o”: ice upon the waves, moonlight likened to ice.
Fifth line, “shikiwatasu kana”: spreading it all across; kana marks exclamation.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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