Yama takami furikuru yuki o ume no hana chiri ka mo kuru to omoitsuru ka mo

山高み降り来る雪を梅の花
散りかも来ると思ひつるかも

Roma-ji: Yama takami furikuru yuki o ume no hana chiri ka mo kuru to omoitsuru ka mo
English Translation: The mountains so high,
the snow that comes falling down—
blossoms of the plum
scattering, coming this way,
so, I found, I had thought it.
Meaning: Because the mountains are so high, the snow comes falling down—and I thought it was plum blossoms scattering my way.
Commentary: Book Ten Spring Miscellaneous Poems 1841

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "On Snow"
This poem tells how the poet mistook snow falling from the high mountains for plum blossoms scattering down. It uses the device of seeing snow as white plum blossoms, likening the beauty of spring snow to flowers. The left note says "the two poems above are a dialogue," and it forms an exchange with the next poem, 1842. The kundoku also carries a variant, "ume no hana sakikamo chiru to," which reads the third and fourth lines as wondering whether the plum was blooming and scattering.

The first line, "yama takami," means because the mountains are high; "mi" is a suffix expressing cause.
The second line, "the snow that comes falling," shows the snow dancing down from the high mountains.
The third line, "plum blossoms," is the object of the comparison, the heart of the device that sees snow as white plum blossoms.
In the fourth line, "chiri ka mo kuru to," "ka mo" is an interrogative particle expressing the thought, are they scattering this way?
In the last line, "omoitsuru ka mo," "tsuru" is the attributive form of the completive "tsu" and "ka mo" an exclamatory particle, closing with the feeling that follows the realization of the mistake.
Source: Manyoshu
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