Toshigoto ni shiraga no kazu o masukagami miru ni zo yuki no tomo wa shirikeru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

年ごとに白髪の数をますかがみ
見るにぞ雪の友は知りける

Roma-ji: Toshigoto ni shiraga no kazu o masukagami miru ni zo yuki no tomo wa shirikeru
English Translation: Year after year
the white hairs grow in number
in the clear mirror,
and seeing it, I have learned
who the friend of the snow is
Meaning: Seeing in the clear mirror how the number of white hairs grows year by year, I have come to know who the snow's friend is.
Commentary: Book Eight Winter Poems 474

Headnote: "Reply."
The poet says that seeing in the clear mirror how white hairs increase year by year, he has learned that the snow's friend is white hair. Taking up Tsurayuki's complaint about the mirror in the preceding poem, he answers that it was through that very mirror that he learned his white hairs were growing.
It is a reply to the preceding poem by Ki no Tsurayuki and closes the exchange on snow and white hair that began with 471. It answers Tsurayuki's "tomokagami" with "masukagami," and, taking up the "friend" of "tomo matsu yuki" in 471, defines the snow's friend as white hair.
The poet, called "Kanesuke Ason," is Fujiwara no Kanesuke. A son of Fujiwara no Toshimoto, he rose to Middle Counselor and was called the Embankment Middle Counselor. Known as a patron of poets such as Ki no Tsurayuki, he is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals.

The first line, "Toshigoto ni," means "year after year."
The second line, "shiraga no kazu o," means "the number of white hairs."
In the third line, "masukagami" is a pivot word meaning both the number of white hairs "increasing" and "masukagami," a clear, bright mirror. It answers "tomokagami" in the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "miru ni zo yuki no," means "in seeing it, of the snow," with the particle "zo" forming a kakarimusubi pattern with the attributive "keru" of the last line.
The last line, "tomo wa shirikeru," means "I have come to know the friend," showing that the friend of "tomo matsu yuki" in 471 is white hair.
Author: Fujiwara no Kanesuke
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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