Sasagani no tama nuku ito no o o yowami kaze ni midarete tsuyu zo koboruru

ささがにの玉貫く糸の緒を弱み
風に乱れて露ぞこぼるる

Roma-ji: Sasagani no tama nuku ito no o o yowami kaze ni midarete tsuyu zo koboruru
English Translation: The little spider
threading jewels on its line—
since the cord's so weak,
tangled by the gusting wind
the drops of dew come spilling down.
Meaning: The spider's thread, strung with dewdrops like jewels, is so weak a cord that, tangled by the wind, the dew spills away.
Commentary: Autumn Poems 257

Headnote: "Composed when I had people compose on the theme 'Is the white dew on the autumn fields a string of jewels?'"
This poem was composed by the poet himself when he had others compose on the theme "Is the white dew on the autumn fields a string of jewels?" Likening the dewdrops strung on a spider's thread to jewels, he sings that because the thread is weak, it tangles in the wind and the jewels of dew spill away, delicately portraying the transience of dew.
The theme is the upper half of Fun'ya no Asayasu's Kokin Wakashū poem asking whether the white dew on the autumn fields is a string of jewels threaded on the spider's lines; this poem develops it into the jewels of dew strung on the thread spilling as the wind tangles it.

Line 1, sasagani, means the spider.
Line 2, "the thread that strings jewels," likens the dew to jewels.
Line 3, o o yowami, means "since the cord is weak," with mi on an adjective stem marking a reason; o, "cord," is a word associated with the jewel-threading line.
Line 4 means "tangled by the wind," and "tangle" too is associated with thread.
Line 5 concludes the binding particle zo with the attributive koboruru. It is the same last line as 211; the dew that spilled from the lower leaves of the bush clover there spills here from a spider's thread.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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