Ama no hara sora o samukemi nubatama no yo wataru tsuki ni matsukaze zo fuku

天の原空を寒けみぬば玉の
夜渡る月に松風ぞ吹く

Roma-ji: Ama no hara sora o samukemi nubatama no yo wataru tsuki ni matsukaze zo fuku
English Translation: The plain of heaven
is so cold across the sky
that through the black night
toward the moon in its crossing
the wind in the pines is blowing.
Meaning: The vast heavens are so cold that the wind in the pines blows toward the moon as it crosses the night sky.
Commentary: Winter Poems 344

Headnote: "Wind in the pines before the moon"
This poem was composed on the theme of wind in the pines before the moon. The whole wide sky is cold, and the wind in the pines blows toward the moon as it crosses the night. Bringing together the moon passing high in the sky and the wind in the pines below, the poet portrays the breadth of a winter night.

Line 1, ama no hara, is the wide expanse of the sky.
Line 2 uses o … mi to show cause, "because the sky is cold"; samuke is an old stem form of samushi.
Line 3, nubatama no, is a pillow word for "night."
Line 4 means "to the moon crossing the night sky."
Line 5 concludes the binding particle zo with the attributive fuku. Poems 323 and 324 sang the wind in the pines mistaken for showers; this one sings the wind in the pines blowing toward the moon.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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