Kirigirisu yowa no koromo no usuki ue ni itaku wa shimo no okazu mo aranamu

きりぎりす夜半の衣の薄き上に
いたくは霜の置かずもあらなむ

Roma-ji: Kirigirisu yowa no koromo no usuki ue ni itaku wa shimo no okazu mo aranamu
English Translation: O you crickets there,
on your thin and flimsy robes
you wear at midnight
may the frost not lie so heavy—
that is what I wish for you.
Meaning: O crickets, your midnight robes are so thin—may the frost not settle on them too heavily.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 255

Headnote: "Composed on hearing crickets cry on a night of the ninth month"
On a night of the ninth month, hearing the crickets cry, the poet wishes that the frost would not settle heavily on their thin night robes. As the cold of late autumn closes in, the poem shows a gentle heart that cares for the tiny insects.
In the source text consulted, a character in line 2 is missing, and no has been supplied from the syllable count, reading yowa no koromo no.

Line 1 names the crickets as the ones addressed.
Line 2 means "of the robes worn at midnight," likening the crickets' wings to robes.
Line 3, "upon their thinness," is hypermetric.
Line 4 means "the frost, so heavily."
Line 5: namu is a wish addressed to another, "may it not settle." It is the same turn of phrase as "please do not cry" in 197. Where 231 lamented the poet's own thin night robes, this poem pities the crickets' thin robes, pairing human and insect.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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