Toki shiranu yama wa fuji no ne itsu tote ka kanoko madara ni yuki no fururan - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

時知らぬ山は富士の嶺いつとてか
鹿の子まだらに雪の降るらん

Roma-ji: Toki shiranu yama wa fuji no ne itsu tote ka kanoko madara ni yuki no fururan
English Translation: A mountain that knows
no season is Fuji's peak—
what time does it think it is,
that in dappled fawn-like spots
the snow should fall upon it?
Meaning: The mountain that knows no season is the peak of Fuji: what time does it think it is, that snow should fall on it in dapples like a fawn's coat?
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems II 1616

Headnote: "Composed on seeing snow lying white on Mount Fuji at the end of the fifth month."
This is the third poem of the sequence on Mount Fuji. The mountain that knows no season is Fuji's peak; what time does it think it is, the poet asks, that snow falls on it in fawn-like dapples? According to the headnote, it was composed on seeing Mount Fuji white with snow at the end of the fifth month.
The author, "Narihira Ason," was a son of Prince Abo, himself a son of Emperor Heizei. One of the Six Poetic Immortals, he is taken to be the model for the hero of The Tales of Ise.
In Episode 9 of The Tales of Ise, the journey to the East, it appears as the poem the man composed on seeing Mount Fuji at the end of the fifth month.
The last day of the fifth month in the lunar calendar falls in the height of summer.

The first line, "toki shiranu," means "that knows no season," first naming Mount Fuji, crowned with snow in summer.
The second line, "yama wa fuji no ne," declares that this mountain is the peak of Fuji. The poem breaks at this noun after the second line. Where the two preceding poems sang of Fuji's smoke, here Fuji's snow is sung.
The third line, "itsu tote ka," means "thinking it is what time?" "Ka" is an interrogative particle.
The fourth line, "kanoko madara ni," means "in dapples like the white spots on a fawn's back." Snow lying patchily on the slopes is likened to the markings of a familiar animal.
The last line, "yuki no fururan," closes the kakari-musubi of "ka" with the attributive form of "ran." It ends by questioning, in present conjecture, the wonder of snow falling in summer.
Author: Ariwara no Narihira
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Kaze ni nabiku fuji no keburi no sora ni kiete yukue mo shiranu waga omoi kana
Next Poem: Haru aki mo shiranu tokiwa no yamazato wa sumu hito sae ya omogawari senu