Kaze samumi yo no fukeyukeba imo ga shima katami no ura ni chidori nakunari

風寒み夜の更けゆけば妹が島
かたみの浦に千鳥鳴くなり

Roma-ji: Kaze samumi yo no fukeyukeba imo ga shima katami no ura ni chidori nakunari
English Translation: The wind is so cold,
and as the night grows late,
by the Isle of Imo
in the bay of Katami
I hear the plovers crying.
Meaning: The wind is so cold, and as the night grows late, I hear the plovers crying in the bay of Katami by the Isle of Imo.
Commentary: Winter Poems 356

Headnote: "Plovers on a cold night"
This poem was composed on the theme of plovers on a cold night. As the wind blows cold and the night grows late, the cries of plovers come from the bay of Katami by the Isle of Imo. Stringing together place names that evoke love, imo, "beloved," and katami, "keepsake," the poet lends a lonely note to the plovers' voices.
This poem was included in the Shinchokusen Wakashū. It uses the place names "the Isle of Imo, the bay of Katami" found in a Man'yōshū poem. Kamo no Mabuchi gave it a double circle.

Line 1 uses mi to show cause, "because the wind is cold," built the same way as tsuki kiyomi at the start of the preceding poem.
Line 2 means "as the night grows late," built the same way as line 2 of the preceding poem. The two poems form a pair, matching the shape of their upper lines and their last line.
Line 3 names an island in Kii; the word imo calls to mind a beloved.
Line 4: katami is a pivot word meaning both the place name Katami and a keepsake that recalls the past, echoing imo in line 3.
Line 5 is the same as that of the preceding poem, rounding off the sequence of plover poems.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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