Yamazato wa michi mo ya miezu narinuran momiji to tomo ni yuki no furinuru

English Translation

In the mountain village
is the path now lost to sight?
For together with
the scattered crimson leaves
the snow has fallen there

Meaning

In the mountain village, has the path now vanished from sight? For the snow has come down together with the fallen crimson leaves.

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 669

Headnote: "Seeing the first snow fall upon scattered crimson leaves, I sent this to a lady-in-waiting serving Jōtōmon'in."
This is the thirteenth poem of the snow sequence. Seeing the first snow fall upon scattered crimson leaves, the speaker wonders whether in the mountain village the path has vanished under leaves and snow. According to the headnote, it was sent to a lady-in-waiting serving Jōtōmon'in after seeing the first snow fall upon the scattered leaves.
The author, "Fujiwara no Ietsune Ason," is Fujiwara no Ietsune. A son of the Consultant Fujiwara no Hironari, he served as Doctor of Letters and Provisional Senior Assistant Minister of Ceremonial, rising to Senior Fourth Rank Lower.
The scene is a day when the first snow fell upon crimson leaves, and the place is the author's dwelling.
The direct occasion is sending a poem as a message to a lady-in-waiting serving Jōtōmon'in, Fujiwara no Shōshi, after seeing the first snow fall upon scattered crimson leaves.

The first line, "yamazato wa," means "in the mountain village," with "wa" singling it out from elsewhere. Against the speaker's own garden in the capital, it imagines the mountain village.
In the second line, "michi mo ya miezu," "ya" is an interrogative particle corresponding to "ran" in the third line: "is the path too lost from sight?"
The third line, "narinuran," means "has it become so?" with "nu" perfective and "ran" an auxiliary of present conjecture. The poem breaks after the third line, in inverted relation to the lower verse.
The fourth line, "momiji to tomo ni," means "together with the scattered crimson leaves."
The last line, "yuki no furinuru," means "for the snow has fallen," with "nuru" as the attributive form of the perfective auxiliary "nu," and closing on the attributive leaves a lingering resonance. The poem extends from the garden before the speaker to a mountain village the scene of fallen leaves covering the path and snow covering them in turn, where the last of autumn and the arrival of winter overlap. Among the poems of first snow that continue from 660 in this book, it marks the turning from autumn to winter through the pairing of crimson leaves and first snow.

Author

Fujiwara no Ietsune

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other