Yuki fureba mine no masakaki uzumorete tsuki ni migakeru ama no kaguyama

English Translation

When the snow falls,
the sacred sakaki on the peak
lie buried deep,
and polished by the moonlight
shines Heavenly Mount Kagu

Meaning

When the snow falls, the sacred sakaki trees on the summit lie buried, and Heavenly Mount Kagu gleams as if polished by the moonlight.

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 677

Headnote: "When Prince-Priest Shukaku had fifty poems composed."
This is the twenty-first poem of the snow sequence. With the sacred sakaki on the summit buried in snow, Heavenly Mount Kagu shines as if polished by the moonlight. According to the headnote, it was composed when Prince-Priest Shukaku had poets compose fifty-poem sets.
The author, "Master of the Empress Dowager's Household Toshinari," is Fujiwara no Shunzei. A son of the Provisional Middle Counselor Fujiwara no Toshitada, he rose to Senior Third Rank and Master of the Empress Dowager's Household, and took the Buddhist name Shakua when he entered holy orders. He compiled the Senzai Wakashū and was the father of Fujiwara no Teika.
The scene is a moonlit night after snow, and the place is Heavenly Mount Kagu in Yamato Province.
The direct occasion is the fifty-poem set that Prince-Priest Shukaku had poets compose.

The first line, "yuki fureba," means "when the snow falls," with "ba" attached to the perfective form expressing an established condition.
The second line, "mine no masakaki," refers to the sacred sakaki growing on the summit. "Masakaki" is an honorific name for sakaki, the evergreen tree used in Shinto rites.
The third line, "uzumorete," means "buried in snow." As the sacred cedars of Furu were buried in snow in 660 of this book, sacred trees are buried in snow here too.
The fourth line, "tsuki ni migakeru," means "polished by the moon," with "ru" as the attributive form of the auxiliary of continuance "ri." It depicts the snow-covered mountain lit by moonlight and gleaming like a polished mirror.
The last line, "ama no kaguyama," closes on a noun, naming one of the Three Mountains of Yamato, a poetic place revered as a mountain descended from heaven. In myth, a mirror was hung on the sakaki of Heavenly Mount Kagu before the Rock Cave of Heaven, and that image is overlaid on the pairing of sakaki and "polished." From the snow piling up in a mountain village and an aging body in the preceding poem, it moves to the solemn scene of snow and moon on a mountain of myth.

Author

Fujiwara no Shunzei

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other