黒髪の白くなりゆく身にしあれば
まづ初雪をあはれとぞ見る
まづ初雪をあはれとぞ見る
- Roma-ji
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Kurokami no shiroku nariyuku mi ni shi areba mazu hatsuyuki o aware to zo miru
- English Translation
-
My black hair
turning white as the years go,
such is my lot,
and so the first snow above all
I gaze on with a stirred heart
- Meaning
- Since I am one whose black hair is turning white, it is the first snow above all that I gaze on with deep feeling.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Winter Poems 467
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that since his black hair is turning white, it is the first snow above all that he gazes on with deep feeling. Overlaying the white snow with his own white hair, the poem expresses the emotion of one growing old.
The conceit of overlaying snow with white hair appears again in the exchange between Ki no Tsurayuki and Fujiwara no Kanesuke, 471 to 474. In this book, several poems link snow with old age.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Kurokami no," means "my black hair," and 472 and 473 in this book also open with "kurokami."
The second line, "shiroku nariyuku," means "turning white," referring to hair whitening with age.
In the third line, "shi" is an emphatic particle: "since I am such a one."
The fourth line, "mazu hatsuyuki o," means "the first snow, before all else."
The last line, "aware to zo miru," means "I gaze on it with deep feeling," the particle "zo" and the attributive "miru" forming a kakarimusubi pattern.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
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