Kōri koso ima wa surashi mo Miyoshino no yama no takitsuse koe mo kikoezu - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

氷こそ今はすらしもみ吉野の
山の滝つ瀬声も聞こえず

Roma-ji: Kōri koso ima wa surashi mo Miyoshino no yama no takitsuse koe mo kikoezu
English Translation: Ice, I think, it is,
that has now taken hold:
on fair Yoshino
the rapids of the mountain
make not a sound at all
Meaning: Ice, it seems, has now formed: from the rapids of the Yoshino mountains not a sound can be heard.
Commentary: Book Eight Winter Poems 477

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet infers that ice has now formed, since not a sound comes from the rapids of the Yoshino mountains. From the silence of the usually raging Yoshino rapids, the poem infers that they are locked in ice and conveys the deepening of winter.
488 in this book also sings of the River of Heaven sealed in ice so that no sound of water is heard, sharing the conceit of inferring ice from silenced water. Like 465, it also sings of "Miyoshino."
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us. The text gives the poet as "yomibito mo," which is treated here as "anonymous."

In the first line, "koso" is an emphatic particle: "it is ice."
In the second line, "su" means for ice to form, "rashi" is an auxiliary of inference based on evidence, and "mo" is exclamatory. Answering "koso" in the first line with "rashi," it means "ice has now formed, it seems." The poem pauses here.
In the third line, "mi" is an honorific prefix; Yoshino in Yamato is a poetic place.
The fourth line, "yama no takitsuse," means "the rapids of the mountain."
The last line, "koe mo kikoezu," means "not a sound of water is heard," giving the evidence for the inference in the second line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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