Yama no kai soko to mo miezu ototsui mo kinō mo kyō mo yuki no furereba

山の狭そことも見えず一昨日も
昨日も今日も雪の降れれば

Roma-ji: Yama no kai soko to mo miezu ototsui mo kinō mo kyō mo yuki no furereba
English Translation: Where the valleys lie
among the hills I cannot tell,
for the day before,
and yesterday and today
the snow has gone on falling
Meaning: I cannot make out where the valleys lie among the hills, for the snow has kept falling the day before yesterday, yesterday, and today.
Commentary: Book Seventeen 3924

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "In the first month of the eighteenth year of Tenpyō, white snow fell heavily and lay several inches deep. Thereupon the Minister of the Left, Lord Tachibana, leading the Major Counselor Fujiwara no Toyonari Ason and the princes and courtiers, went to the residence of the Retired Sovereign (the west court of the Chūgū palace) and served by sweeping the snow. An imperial command was then issued, seating the ministers, councilors and princes in the great hall and the lords and officials in the south gallery, and wine was bestowed at a banquet. The sovereign said: "You princes and lords, compose a little on this snow, and each present your poem." A poem by Ki no Ason Okaji in response to the command"
Snow has fallen day after day, so that one cannot tell where the mountain valleys lie—a poem on the depth of the snow. In the first month of 746, on a day when several inches of snow had fallen, the Minister of the Left Tachibana no Moroe led the princes and courtiers to the residence of the Retired Sovereign Genshō and served by sweeping the snow. This is one of the poems composed on the theme of snow at the banquet that followed, in response to the sovereign's command. Where the two preceding poems closed with words of praise, this one simply depicts the ceaseless snowfall, showing the abundance of snow piled up over days.
The poet, Ki no Okaji, was a Nara-period official of whom little is known.
The left note adds that eighteen others, beginning with Fujiwara no Toyonari, also presented poems in response to the command, but these were not written down at the time and were lost. It also tells how Hata no Chōgen, unable to compose a poem, was teased by Tachibana no Moroe that he should pay with musk instead, and fell silent.

First line, "yama no kai": kai is the valley lying between mountains.
Second line, "soko to mo miezu": "I cannot make out which is where"; the poem pauses here, giving the reason in the lower verse by inversion.
Third line, "ototsui mo": "the day before yesterday too." The chōka 4011 in this book has the same phrasing, "ototsui mo kinō mo aritsu."
Fourth line, "kinō mo kyō mo": with the third line, mo is repeated three times, piling up the days of continuous snowfall.
Fifth line, "yuki no furereba": "because the snow has been falling," the realis of the continuative ri with ba.
Author: Ki no Okaji
Source: Manyoshu
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