O no ue ni furiokeru yuki shi kaze no muta koko ni chirurashi haru ni wa aredomo

峰の上に降り置ける雪し風の共
ここに散るらし春にはあれども

Roma-ji: O no ue ni furiokeru yuki shi kaze no muta koko ni chirurashi haru ni wa aredomo
English Translation: On the lofty peak
the snow that has fallen and lies
along with the wind
seems to scatter over here,
even though it now is spring.
Meaning: The snow that fell and lay upon the peak seems to be scattering down here along with the wind—even though it is already spring.
Commentary: Book Ten Spring Miscellaneous Poems 1838

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Snow"
Seeing snow dancing down at the foot of the mountain in spring, the poet infers that snow lying on the peak has been carried there by the wind. The left note records that it was composed on Mount Tsukuba. There is a rational turn in explaining spring snow as the remnant of snow on the peak, and the closing "even though it is spring" shows a heart that accepts winter within spring.
Whereas 1835 insists that snow should not fall now that spring has come, this poem seeks the reason why snow scatters in spring in the snow of the peak, making it a poem within the snow group that reflects on where spring snow comes from.

In the first line, "on the peak," "o" means the summit of a mountain; it points to the top of Mount Tsukuba and shows where the snow comes from.
The second line, "the snow that has fallen and lies," uses the emphatic particle "shi" and is hypermetric.
In the third line, "kaze no muta," "muta" means together with, showing the snow carried along by the wind.
In the fourth line, "koko ni chirurashi," "rashi" marks grounded inference: from the snow dancing before the eyes, the poet infers it has blown down from the peak. The poem breaks after this line.
The last line, "even though it is spring," is hypermetric, and by inversion adds at the end the gap between the snow and the season.
Source: Manyoshu
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