Kiehatsuru toki shi nakereba koshiji naru shirayama no na wa yuki ni zo arikeru - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

消え果つる時しなければ越路なる
白山の名は雪にぞありける

Roma-ji: Kiehatsuru toki shi nakereba koshiji naru shirayama no na wa yuki ni zo arikeru
English Translation: Since there never comes
a time when it melts away,
on the Koshi road
the name of Mount Shirayama—
it was the snow that gave it.
Meaning: Because its snow never melts away entirely, the name of White Mountain on the Koshi road must have come from that snow after all.
Commentary: Book Nine Travel Poems 414

Headnote: "Composed on seeing Mount Shirayama when he went to the province of Koshi"
On the way to Koshi, the poet looks up at Mount Shirayama and, seeing snow that never melts the whole year round, realizes with surprise where the name "White Mountain" comes from. Finding a reason inside a mountain's name shows Mitsune's characteristic wit.
The headnote shows that the poem was composed when he went to Koshi and saw the snow-capped mountain before him. Shirayama, a sacred peak spanning Kaga, Echizen and Mino, was a poetic place known even in the capital as the mountain whose snow never melts.
The author, "Mitsune," is Ōshikōchi no Mitsune. He served with Ki no Tsurayuki and others as a compiler of the Kokinshū and is counted among the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals. Though his court rank was low, he was known for his gift for impromptu verse.

The first line, "melting away entirely," speaks of vanishing completely. That the thing which never melts is snow is kept back until the last line, giving the poem the shape of a riddle.
In the second line, "shi" is emphatic and "nakereba" is the realis with "ba," a completed condition: "since there is no such time."
In the third line, "Koshiji" means the land of Koshi or the road leading there, and "naru" expresses location.
The fourth line focuses on the mountain's name. Where the preceding poem, 413, sings of mountains hidden in haze, this one sings of a mountain standing out white with snow, so the unseen and the seen mountain form a contrast.
In the last line, "zo" is a binding particle and "keru" is the attributive form of the exclamatory "keri," completing the binding. It expresses the delight of realizing that the name came from the snow.
Author: Oshikochi no Mitsune
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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