classic waka stream

雪のみやふりぬと思ふ山里に
我も多くの年ぞ積もれる
Roma-ji

Yuki nomi ya furinu to omou yamazato ni ware mo ōku no toshi zo tsumoreru

English Translation
Do you think the snow
alone has fallen and grown old?
In this mountain village
upon me too so many years
have fallen and piled up
Meaning
Do you think it is only the snow that has fallen and piled up? Here in this mountain village, many years have piled up on me as well, and I have grown old.
Commentary
Book Six Winter Poems 676

Headnote: "When commanded to present poems in the reign of Engi."
This is the twentieth poem of the snow sequence. Seeing the snow piled up in a mountain village, the speaker says that it is not only snow that has piled up: many years have piled up on him as well, and he has grown old. According to the headnote, it was composed when Emperor Daigo commanded poems to be presented in the Engi era.
The author, "Tsurayuki," is Ki no Tsurayuki. A son of Ki no Mochiyuki, he wrote the Japanese preface as one of the compilers of the Kokin Wakashū and wrote the Tosa Diary. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.
The scene is winter with snow piled high, and the place is a mountain village.
The direct occasion is presenting poems at the command of Emperor Daigo in the Engi era.

The first line, "yuki nomi ya," means "is it only the snow," with "ya" as an interrogative particle answered by "omou" in the second line.
In the second line, "furinu to omou," "furi" carries both the snow "falling" and "growing old" with the years: "do you think it alone has fallen and grown old?" The poem breaks after the second line.
The third line, "yamazato ni," means "in this mountain village."
The fourth line, "ware mo ōku no," means "on me too, many."
The last line, "toshi zo tsumoreru," is a kakari-musubi construction in which "zo" is answered by "ru," the attributive form of the auxiliary of continuance "ri," meaning "years have piled up." Just as snow "falls" and "piles up," years have "aged" and "piled up" on the speaker, and snow and old age are laid over each other. It connects with 661 in this book, which used the double meaning of "fureba" to overlay the sorrows of living on in the world with snow, in using the double meaning of "furu" to lay the snow over one's own life. From the snow falling on and on over the high peak of Fuji in the preceding poem, it moves to snow piling up in a mountain village and a body grown old.
Author
Ki no Tsurayuki
Source
Shin Kokin Wakashu
Other