on fair Yoshino
through the mountain’s deep white snow
he made his way in—
yet from that man who entered
no word has come at all
- Meaning
- On Mount Yoshino, one who made his way through the deep snow has gone in—and from him no message has come.
- Commentary
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Book Six Winter Poems
The poem speaks of a person who entered the mountains, parting the deeply fallen snow, and from whom no word has been received.
It leaves open many questions—why he went into the mountains, who he was, and what became of him—inviting the reader to imagine his fate in the silent, snow-covered landscape.
- Author
- Mibu no Tadamine
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- on fair Yoshino the mountain snow must be piled— for in the old capital the cold grows ever deeper more than it was before
- near the seashore the falling snow drifts down— and it appears as though white waves might overpass now Sue no Matsuyama
- in mountain villages where white snow has fallen deep and lies heaped upon— even those who dwell there now may feel their thoughts fade away
- snow falling deep on a road where no one comes or passes at all— is it for that very reason that even my thoughts fade away