高山の菅の葉しのぎ降る雪の
消ぬと言ふべくも恋の繁けく
消ぬと言ふべくも恋の繁けく
- Roma-ji
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Takayama no suga no ha shinogi furu yuki no kenu to iubeku mo koi no shigekeku
- English Translation
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On the mountains high,
pressing down the sedge's leaves,
the snow that falls there,
as if melting away, I'd say,
so thick my longing grows
- Meaning
- Like the snow that falls pressing down the sedge leaves on the high mountains and then melts away, my longing grows so thick that I could say I am vanishing.
- Commentary
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Book Eight Winter Love Poems 1655
Headnote: "A poem by Mikuni no Mahito Hitotari"
Like the snow that falls pressing down the sedge leaves on the high mountains and then melts away, the poet's longing grows so thick that he could say he is vanishing. He lays over the weight and fragility of snow a love both fierce and painful. The poem stands at the head of the winter love poems.
The author, Mikuni no Hitotari, was an official of the Nara period of the Mikuni clan holding the rank-title mahito.
The first line means "of the high mountains."
In the second line, "shinogu" means to press down, so the line means "pressing down the sedge leaves." Tajihi no Mahito's 1609 in this book also has "pushing through the autumn clover," singing of a deer crying as it presses through the clover.
With the third line, the first three lines become a preface leading to "vanish."
The fourth line, with an extra syllable, means "so much that I might say I vanish."
The final line means "my longing grows so thick," closing almost like a noun ending and leaving the pain of love to linger.
- Author
- Mikuni no Hitotari
- Source
- Manyoshu
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