Kannazuki shigururu toki zo Miyoshino no yama no miyuki mo furihajimekeru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

神無月しぐるる時ぞみ吉野の
山のみ雪も降り始めける

Roma-ji: Kannazuki shigururu toki zo Miyoshino no yama no miyuki mo furihajimekeru
English Translation: The Godless Month—
it is when the showers fall
that on fair Yoshino
upon the mountains, the snow
has also begun to fall
Meaning: It is in the tenth month, when the showers fall, that the snow on the mountains of Yoshino has begun to fall as well.
Commentary: Book Eight Winter Poems 465

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that it is in the tenth month, when the showers fall in the capital, that snow has begun to fall on the mountains of Yoshino. Linking the showers of the capital with the snow of distant Yoshino, the poem imagines winter deepening.
Where the opening poem of this book, 443, imagined the autumn leaves of the mountains on hearing the first showers, this poem imagines the snow of Yoshino from the showers, moving with the same thought from leaves to snow.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Kannazuki," is another name for the tenth lunar month, a word placed again and again in this book.
In the second line, "shiguru" is a verb meaning "for showers to fall," and "zo" is an emphatic particle.
In the third line, "mi" is an honorific prefix; Yoshino in Yamato is a poetic place famed for its snow.
In the fourth line, "miyuki" likewise adds the honorific "mi" to "yuki," snow.
The last line, "furihajimekeru," ends in the attributive "keru," answering "zo" in the second line in a kakarimusubi pattern: "it began to fall."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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