Minatogawa toma ni yuki fuku tomobune wa muyai tsutsu koso yo o akashikere

湊川苫に雪吹く友舟は
むやひつつこそ夜を明かしけれ

Roma-ji: Minatogawa toma ni yuki fuku tomobune wa muyai tsutsu koso yo o akashikere
English Translation: At Minato River,
the boats with snow blowing on
their rush-mat roofing,
moored together side by side,
have passed the long night through.
Meaning: On the Minato River, the boats with snow blowing against their rush-mat covers passed the night moored fast to one another.
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1486

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Poems on Snow"
The fourth of the ten poems on snow. On the Minato River, boats with snow blowing on their rush-mat covers passed the cold night lashed together.
In the boats drawing close on a snow-swept river, it portrays both the forlornness and the warmth of enduring a harsh winter night together. Against the mountain village snow of the preceding poem, this one takes the snow of a river harbor, moving the stage of the snow poems from mountain to water.

First line, “Minatogawa”: a river harbor at the mouth, also read as the place name Minatogawa.
Second line, “toma ni yuki fuku”: toma is the rush-mat covering of a boat, with snow blowing against it.
Third line, “tomobune wa”: boats keeping company.
Fourth line, “muyai tsutsu koso”: muyau is to lash boats together, and koso is a binding particle.
Fifth line, “yo o akashikere”: answering koso with the perfective form kere, strengthening "they passed the night."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
Prev Poem: Aware shirite tare ka wakekon yamazato no yuki furiuzumu niwa no yūgure
Next Poem: Ikadashi no nami no shizumu to mietsuru wa yuki o tsumitsutsu kudaru narikeri