Miyoshino no yama kakikumori yuki fureba fumoto no sato wa uchishiguretsutsu

English Translation

In fair Yoshino
the mountains cloud over
and the snow comes down,
while in the village at their foot
the winter showers fall and fall

Meaning

When the mountains of Yoshino darken with cloud and the snow comes down, in the village at their foot the winter showers keep on falling.

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 588

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the nineteenth poem of the winter-showers sequence. When the mountains of Yoshino cloud over and snow falls, showers keep falling in the village at their foot, and the poem sings of the difference between mountain and village. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Shun'e Hōshi," is Shun'e. A son of Minamoto no Toshiyori, he became a monk of Tōdaiji and named his own quarters at Shirakawa the Karin'en, the Garden in the Poetic Grove, making it a gathering place for poets. He was the poetry teacher of Kamo no Chōmei.
The scene is early winter with snow and showers, and the place is Mount Yoshino in Yamato Province and the village at its foot.
The direct occasion is not recorded.

The first line, "miyoshino no," names a poetic place in Yamato Province, with "mi" as an honorific prefix. Yoshino was sung as a place famed for snow.
The second line, "yama kakikumori," means "the mountains cloud over entirely," with "kaki" as an intensifying prefix.
In the third line, "yuki fureba," "ba" attached to the perfective form expresses an established condition: "when the snow falls."
In the fourth line, "fumoto no sato wa," "wa" singles out the village in contrast to the mountains. Against the snow on the mountains, the weather of the village at their foot is presented.
The last line, "uchishiguretsutsu," means "the showers keep falling," the same last line as 584 in this book. Snow on the mountains, showers in the village: beneath the same sky, scenes differing by height are drawn in contrast of high and low, showing the turning of the season from showers to snow. Where 585 in this book inferred showers in a village from clouds over a mountain, this poem sets the snow on the mountain and the showers in the village side by side.

Author

Shun'e

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other