Awayuki ka hadare ni furu to miru made ni nagarae chiru wa nani no hana zo mo

沫雪かはだれに降ると見るまでに
流らへ散るは何の花ぞも

Roma-ji: Awayuki ka hadare ni furu to miru made ni nagarae chiru wa nani no hana zo mo
English Translation: Is it the light snow
falling here and there in patches?
So it seems to me:
drifting, scattering on and on,
what flower can this be?
Meaning: So thickly do they drift that I mistook them for light snow falling in patches; what flowers are these, scattering and streaming down?
Commentary: Book Eight Spring Miscellaneous Poems 1420

Headnote: "A poem by the Suruga Lady-in-Waiting"
Mistaking flower petals fluttering down for light snow falling in patches, the poet asks what flower they could be. Likening falling blossoms to snow became a much-loved conceit in later waka, and this is an early example of it.
The author was a lady-in-waiting who came to court from Suruga Province. Her name is not recorded.

In the first line, "ka" marks a question, suggesting light snow as fleeting as foam.
The second line describes snow falling thinly in patches, showing how the poet felt the petals to be like snow.
The third line means "so much that it seems so." The same line appears in 1647 of this book, where the conceit is reversed and snow is seen as scattering plum blossoms; the images of flowers and snow thus answer each other between the spring and winter sections.
In the fourth line, "nagarau" means to keep falling or scattering as if streaming.
The final line, with "zo" and "mo," asks the name of the flower in wonder. By ending on the question without an answer, the poem leaves the beauty of the falling petals vividly in mind.
Author: The Suruga Lady-in-Waiting
Source: Manyoshu
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