Okuyama no suga no ne shinogi furu yuki no kenu to ka iwamu koi no shigeki ni - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

奥山の菅の根しのぎ降る雪の
消ぬとか言はむ恋のしげきに

Roma-ji: Okuyama no suga no ne shinogi furu yuki no kenu to ka iwamu koi no shigeki ni
English Translation: In the deep mountains
bowing down the sedge's roots
the snow keeps falling
shall I say I too will melt
from love's unceasing weight
Meaning: Like the snow that falls in the deep mountains, bending down the roots of the sedge, shall I say I am about to vanish, so incessant is my love?
Commentary: Book Eleven Love Poems I 551

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Taking as its preface the snow that falls in the deep mountains, bending down the roots of the sedge, the poem sings that the poet seems about to vanish under the weight of unceasing love. The scene of heavily falling snow symbolizes the weight of love piling up in the heart. It appears to be a variant of a poem in Book Eight of the Man'yoshu, "On the high mountain / bending the sedge leaves, the snow falls / shall I say I will vanish, so incessant is my love," and it carries the cadence of old song.
It is placed at the very end of this book: whereas poem 469 at the head sang of the bewilderment of love's beginning through the summer cuckoo, this poem closes the book by singing of the weight of a love about to vanish, through winter snow. The seasonal arrangement of spring, summer, autumn, and winter that ran from poem 542 is also brought to a close with this snow poem.
The second line in the main text reads with the character for "pipe" in suga no ne, but the kana reading line gives sugano ne, and the character appears to be an error for "sedge." Here the kana reading line is followed and the character for sedge is used.

First line, "In the deep mountains": okuyama is a deep, remote mountain, presenting a snowbound scene. Poem 535 of this book also begins with "okuyama no," likening the depth of the heart to the depth of the mountains.
Second line, "bowing down the sedge's roots": suga is sedge growing in the hills and fields, and shinogu means to press down or bend over.
Third line, "the snow keeps falling": furu yuki no, the falling snow, and lines one through three form a preface leading to kenu in the fourth line. Together with the "light snow" of the preceding poem, 550, it closes the book with poems of snow.
Fourth line, "shall I say I too will melt": kenu to ka iwamu means "shall I say I have vanished?", overlaying snow melting with a body fading away from love. Ka is interrogative and forms a kakari-musubi with mu. Like kenubeshi in poem 470 of this book, it sings of a body fading away from love.
Fifth line, "from love's unceasing weight": koi no shigeki ni means because love is so incessant, giving the reason for the fourth line afterward in an inverted structure. Sharing a word with the last line of the preceding poem, shigeki koro kana, it closes the book of love that began with the final line of the head poem, koi mo suru kana, with a lament of unceasing love.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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