Tazunekite michi wakewaburu hito mo araji ikue mo tsumore niwa no shirayuki

English Translation

No one will come seeking,
struggling to force a path
through the drifts—
so pile up, fold on fold,
white snow within my garden

Meaning

No one will come seeking me here, struggling to force a way through the drifts—so pile up, layer upon layer, white snow of my garden.

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 682

Headnote: "Composed at Ōhara on a snowy morning."
This is the twenty-sixth poem of the snow sequence. Since no one will come struggling through the snowy paths to visit, the speaker bids the white snow of the garden pile up fold on fold. According to the headnote, it was composed at Ōhara on a snowy morning.
The author, "Jakuzen Hōshi," is Jakuzen. His lay name was Fujiwara no Yorinari; he took holy orders and lived at Ōhara, and with his elder brothers Jakunen and Jakuchō he was called one of the Three Jaku of Ōhara.
The scene is a snowy morning, and the place is a dwelling at Ōhara in Yamashiro Province.
The direct occasion is greeting a snowy morning at Ōhara, where he lived in seclusion.

The first line, "tazunekite," means "coming to seek me out."
The second line, "michi wakewaburu," means "struggling to make a way through the snowy path," with "wabu" adding the sense of difficulty and distress.
The third line, "hito mo araji," means "there will be no such person," with "ji" as an auxiliary of negative conjecture. It runs to six syllables, one over the count, and the poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "ikue mo tsumore," means "pile up fold on fold," with "tsumore" an imperative.
The last line, "niwa no shirayuki," closes on a noun, addressing the white snow of the garden. For a recluse whom no one visits, there is no need to worry that snow will close the paths, and so the poem sings of a hermit's heart that instead wishes the snow to pile up. Where 678 in this book wished for a visitor before the snow could pile up, this poem, since no one will come, commands the snow to pile up fold on fold, so that a heart regretting the snow's piling and a heart seeking it form a pair. Following the preceding poem, which denied any hope of a visit, it moves on to a heart that accepts that no one will come.

Author

Jakuzen

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other