Hikazu furu yukige ni masaru sumigama no keburi mo samushi ōhara no sato

English Translation

Day after day
the snowy skies grow heavier
and thicker rise
the smoke of charcoal kilns—
how cold it looks, Ōhara village

Meaning

As the snowy skies go on day after day, the smoke from the charcoal kilns rises all the thicker—and even it looks cold over the village of Ōhara.

Commentary

Book Six Winter Poems 690

Headnote: "When I presented a hundred-poem sequence."
This is the second poem of the sequence on buried embers and charcoal kilns and the last of that sequence. As the snowy weather continues day after day, the smoke from the charcoal kilns rises ever thicker, yet even it looks cold over the village of Ōhara. According to the headnote, it was composed when a hundred-poem sequence was presented.
The author, "Princess Shikishi," is Princess Shikishi. A daughter of Emperor Go-Shirakawa, she served as Kamo Priestess and studied poetry under Fujiwara no Shunzei.
The scene is winter with snow falling on and on, and the place is the village of Ōhara in Yamashiro Province.
The direct occasion is the presentation of a hundred-poem sequence. The headnote does not record for which gathering the hundred poems were composed.

In the first line, "hikazu furu," "furu" carries both days "passing" and snow "falling."
The second line, "yukige ni masaru," means "growing stronger with the snowy weather." "Yukige" means a sky that threatens snow, or the presence of falling snow.
The third line, "sumigama no," means "of the charcoal kilns," where wood is burned to make charcoal.
The fourth line, "keburi mo samushi," means "even the smoke looks cold," and the poem breaks after the fourth line. Through the paradox that even the smoke of charcoal burning, which should suggest warmth, looks cold, it shows the severity of winter.
The last line, "ōhara no sato," closes on a noun, naming the village of Ōhara in Yamashiro Province, around present-day Ōhara in Sakyō Ward, Kyoto, known as a village of charcoal burners. From the buried embers of a hearth in the preceding poem, the scene of winter fire moves to the smoke of charcoal kilns. In 674 of this book snow put out the smoke of Shiogama Bay, but in this poem snow makes the smoke of the charcoal kilns rise all the more, reversing the relation of snow and smoke.

Author

Princess Shokushi

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other