Kokoroate ni miba koso wakame shirayuki no izure ka hana no chiru ni tagaeru - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

心あてに見ばこそ分かめ白雪の
いづれか花の散るにたがへる

Roma-ji: Kokoroate ni miba koso wakame shirayuki no izure ka hana no chiru ni tagaeru
English Translation: Guessing at it,
I might be able to tell,
but this white snow—
in what way does it differ
from the scattering of blossoms
Meaning: If I looked only by guesswork, I might tell them apart; but in what way does this white snow differ from falling blossoms?
Commentary: Book Eight Winter Poems 487

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that if one looked only by guesswork one might tell them apart, but in what way does this white snow differ from falling blossoms? The rhetorical question stresses that falling snow and scattering blossoms are so alike they cannot be distinguished.
Like Ōshikōchi no Mitsune's "kokoro ate ni oraba ya oramu hatsushimo no okimadowaseru shiragiku no hana" in the Kokin Wakashū, it opens with "kokoro ate ni" and sings of how hard it is to tell white things apart. Like 475 and 476 in this book, it likens snow to blossoms.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Kokoroate ni," means "by guesswork."
The second line, "miba koso wakame," means "if I looked, I might tell them apart," the particle "koso" and the perfective "me" forming a kakarimusubi pattern and continuing with a concessive sense.
The third line, "shirayuki no," means "of the white snow."
In the fourth line, "ka" is a rhetorical particle: "in what way, from the blossoms."
The last line, "chiru ni tagaeru," means "does it differ from their falling? It does not," closing with the attributive "ru" in answer to "ka" in the fourth line.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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