常よりも篠屋の軒ぞ埋もるる
今日は都に初雪や降る
今日は都に初雪や降る
- Roma-ji
-
Tsune yori mo shinoya no noki zo uzumoruru kyō wa miyako ni hatsuyuki ya furu
- English Translation
-
More than ever before
the eaves of my bamboo hut
lie buried deep;
today in the capital
is the first snow falling too?
- Meaning
- The eaves of my little bamboo hut are buried deeper than ever before—is the first snow falling in the capital today as well?
- Commentary
-
Book Six Winter Poems 658
Headnote: "Sent to Mototoshi on a snowy morning."
This is the second poem of the snow sequence. Seeing the eaves of his bamboo hut buried deeper in snow than ever, the speaker asks whether the first snow is falling in the capital today too. According to the headnote, it was sent to Fujiwara no Mototoshi on a snowy morning, and the next poem, 659, is his reply.
The author, "the Holy Man Senzai," is Senzai. He was a monk of the late Heian period who maintained the temple Ungoji in the Higashiyama hills of the capital. "Holy man" is a title for a monk of high virtue.
The scene is a snowy morning, and the place is the bamboo hut where the author lived.
The direct occasion is sending a poem as a message to his friend Fujiwara no Mototoshi on a snowy morning.
The first line, "tsune yori mo," means "more than usual."
In the second line, "shinoya no noki zo," "shinoya" means a humble house roofed with bamboo grass, a modest way of referring to the author's own dwelling. The particle "zo" singles out the eaves with emphasis.
The third line, "uzumoruru," is a kakari-musubi construction in which "zo" is answered by the attributive form of the verb "uzumoru," meaning "are buried." The poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "kyō wa miyako ni," means "today in the capital too."
The last line, "hatsuyuki ya furu," closes with the attributive "furu," answering the interrogative particle "ya," and asks, "is the first snow falling?" From the snow piled on his own dwelling toward the hills, the speaker imagines the first snow in the capital and sends a message to his friend there. The next poem, 659, is Fujiwara no Mototoshi's reply, which answers by taking up the words "shinoya" and "kyō wa miyako ni."
- Author
- Senzai
- Source
- Shin Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- Rippling waters— at Karasaki of Shiga the wind blows chill, and on the lofty peaks of Hira the hail must be falling
- On the plain of Yata the low reeds turn their color; on Mount Arachi the light snow upon the peaks must lie there cold indeed
- In the falling snow, how must it be, truly, with your bamboo hut? Today in the capital not even a footprint shows
- The first snow falls and the sacred cedars of Furu lie buried deep; the fields bound with sacred ropes have shut themselves in for winter