Miyama ni wa arare furu rashi toyama naru masaki no kazura irozuki ni keri - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

深山には霰降るらし外山なる
まさきのかづら色づきにけり

Roma-ji: Miyama ni wa arare furu rashi toyama naru masaki no kazura irozuki ni keri
English Translation: In the deep mountains
hail seems to be falling now:
on the near hills
the vines of masaki
have taken on their color.
Meaning: Hail must already be falling in the deep mountains, for on the near hills the masaki vine has turned color.
Commentary: Book Twenty Poems of the Bureau of Court Song 1077

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Kagura Songs: Torimono Song"
Seeing the masaki vine on the near hills turn color, the singer surmises that hail must already be falling in the deep mountains. The song reaches from the scene at hand to a distant season out of sight, and is tied to the vine torimono. No author is recorded.
Torimono songs are kagura songs sung on the hand-held objects that dancers carried in the sacred dance, such as sakaki branches, bows, ladles and vines. Poems 1074 through 1079 form this group of six.

The first line, "in the deep mountains," sets the far peaks against the near hills of the third line.
The second line, "hail seems to fall," uses rashi, inference from evidence. The poem breaks here.
The third line, "on the near hills," means on the mountains close to the village, naru marking location; it pairs with the deep mountains of the first line.
The fourth line, "the masaki vine," names a climbing plant thought to be star jasmine or climbing spindle. Following the mountain vine of the preceding poem, 1076, it continues the vine torimono theme.
The last line, "has taken on color," uses keri for the exclamation of noticing; this fact before the eyes is the ground for the inference of the second line.
Source: Kokin Wakashu
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