Yamakage ya sara de wa niwa ni ato mo nashi haru zo kinikeru yuki no muragie - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

山陰やさらでは庭に跡もなし
春ぞ来にける雪のむら消え

Roma-ji: Yamakage ya sara de wa niwa ni ato mo nashi haru zo kinikeru yuki no muragie
English Translation: In the mountain's shade—
save for this, upon my yard
there is not a trace:
spring has come, as I can see
in the snow's patchy melting.
Meaning: My dwelling in the mountain's shade: apart from where the snow has melted in patches, there is no trace of any visitor in the garden. Spring has come—I see it in the snow melting here and there.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1437

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Lingering Snow at a Mountain Dwelling' at the house of the Tsuchimikado Palace Minister."
This is the second poem of the sequence on the coming of spring. No footprints of visitors mark the garden of a dwelling in the mountain's shade; only the snow melting in patches shows that spring has come. According to the headnote, it was composed at the house of the Tsuchimikado Palace Minister on the topic "Lingering Snow at a Mountain Dwelling."
The author, "Fujiwara no Ariie Ason," was the son of Fujiwara no Shigeie. A poet of the Rokujō Fujiwara line, he was one of the compilers of the Shin Kokinshū.
The "Tsuchimikado Palace Minister" of the headnote is Minamoto no Michichika. A trusted retainer of Retired Emperor Go-Toba, he rose to Palace Minister. "Lingering Snow at a Mountain Dwelling" is a topic on snow remaining at a dwelling in the mountains.

In the first line, "yamakage ya," the exclamatory particle "ya" first presents the dwelling in the mountain's shade, and the poem breaks after the first line.
In the second line, "sara de wa niwa ni," "sara de wa" means "were it not for that" or "other than that," pointing to the patchy melting of the snow in the last line.
The third line, "ato mo nashi," says that there are no footprints of visitors in the garden, conveying the loneliness of a mountain dwelling. The poem breaks after the third line.
The fourth line, "haru zo kinikeru," closes the kakari-musubi of the particle "zo" with the attributive form "keru." It strongly conveys the feeling of realizing that spring has arrived.
The last line, "yuki no muragie," ends on a noun. Following the icicles of tears that melted in the preceding poem, the melting snow here marks the coming of spring, and the sequence is linked by the melting of ice and snow.
Author: Fujiwara no Ariie
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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