Mizutori no tsurara no makura hima mo nashi ube saekerashi tofu no sugagomo - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

水鳥のつららの枕隙もなし
うべ冴えけらし十符の菅薦

Roma-ji: Mizutori no tsurara no makura hima mo nashi ube saekerashi tofu no sugagomo
English Translation: For the water birds
the icy pillow is laid
without a single gap;
no wonder it has grown so cold:
a fine mat of Tofu sedge
Meaning: The ice that serves the water birds as a pillow is laid without a single gap; no wonder it has grown so cold, close-woven like a sedge mat of Tofu.
Commentary: Book Four Winter Poems 275

On the water where the water birds sleep, the ice they use as a pillow is spread without a gap, and no wonder, the poet says, it has grown so cold. The ice covering the water is likened to the finely woven sedge mats of Tofu, a famed product of Michinoku, as a fitting bed for the birds.
It is the last of the poems on ice, and from the next poem the book turns to hail and snow. Poems 297 and 298 in this book also sing of the winter beds of mandarin ducks.
From poem 271 through poem 275 in this book come poems on ice.
The author, Tsunenobu, is Minamoto no Tsunenobu. A son of Minamoto no Michikata, he rose to Major Counselor and was called the Katsura Counselor. In his last years he died at his post as Provisional Governor-General of Dazaifu. He was the father of the compiler, Minamoto no Toshiyori.

First line, 'mizutori no', are birds that live on the water, a sight of winter shores.
Second line, 'tsurara no makura', uses tsurara, ice on the water, likened to the pillow on which the water birds sleep.
Third line, 'hima mo nashi', means without a gap, showing the ice spread over the whole surface. The poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, 'ube saekerashi', means no wonder it has grown cold, ube expressing assent and rashi an inference grounded in evidence. The kana of the text reads uhe, read here as ube with the voicing mark supplied.
Final line, 'tofu no sugagomo', is a sedge mat of Tofu, a famed product of Michinoku woven with ten strands, to which the gapless ice is likened. It closes with a noun.
Author: Minamoto no Tsunenobu
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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