Kakikumori amagiru yuki no furusato o tsumoranu saki ni tou hito mo gana

English Translation

The sky clouds over,
and the snow blurs all the air
in this old village;
would that someone came to call
before it piles up deep

Meaning

The sky has clouded over and the snow blurs the air as it falls on this old village—if only someone would come to call before it piles up deep.

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 678

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
This is the twenty-second poem of the snow sequence. As snow falls on the old village, clouding the whole sky, the speaker wishes someone would come to call before it piles up. The headnote gives no topic, and the circumstances of composition are not recorded.
The author, "Kojijū," is Kojijū. A daughter of Ki no Mitsukiyo, Superintendent of the Iwashimizu Hachiman Shrine, she served at court as a lady-in-waiting and was called "Kojijū of the Waiting Night."
The scene is winter as the snow falls, and the place is an old village.
The direct occasion is not recorded.

The first line, "kakikumori," means "clouding over entirely," with "kaki" as an intensifying prefix.
The second line, "amagiru yuki no," means "of the snow blurring the sky as it falls."
In the third line, "furusato o," "furu" carries both the snow "falling" and "furusato," an old village. An old village is one long familiar, or one where visitors have grown few.
The fourth line, "tsumoranu saki ni," means "before the snow piles up and closes the paths."
The last line, "tou hito mo gana," means "would that someone came to call," with "mo gana" as a particle of wishing. Anticipating that once the snow piles up no visits can be hoped for, the speaker wishes for a visitor before then. Where 664 in this book waited for a visitor while gazing at a garden of snow without footprints, this poem wishes someone would come before the snow piles up, so that a heart waiting after the snow has settled and a heart wishing before it settles form a pair.

Author

Kojiju

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other