Yuki fukami miyama no michi wa harezu tomo
nao fumikayoe ato taezu shite

English Translation

Though the deep snow leaves
the mountain road uncleared, still
keep treading through and
send word to me here, and let
the footprints never break off

Meaning

Though the deep snow leaves the mountain road unclear, still tread through and keep sending word, letting the footprints never break off.

Commentary

Part One: Usugumo

　Having decided to give the child up to the Nijo residence, Akashi no Kimi felt her loneliness deepen through days of snow and sleet. On a morning when snow had darkened everything and lay piled, she thought through the whole of her past and what lay ahead, and though she never usually sat near the veranda, she gazed at the ice along the water's edge in layered white robes, lost in thought. Wiping away her falling tears, she grieved how forlorn such snowy days would be once the child was gone, and spoke this poem to the nurse. The nurse answered to console her.

　"Yuki fukami" is because the snow is deep. "The mountain road" suggests the snowbound way between her and the Nijo residence. "Fumi kayoe" plays treading through against sending letters. "Let the footprints never break off" lays tracks in snow over the constancy of word. The scene of a deep snowbound road is turned into the very distance between mother and daughter, with the plea that at least word should never cease.

Author

Murasaki Shikibu

Source

Genji Monogatari

Other

Yuki fukami miyama no michi wa harezu tomo nao fumikayoe ato taezu shite

Yuki fukami miyama no michi wa harezu tomo
nao fumikayoe ato taezu shite