年暮れて春あけがたになりぬれば
花のためしにまがふ白雪
花のためしにまがふ白雪
- Roma-ji
-
Toshi kurete haru akegata ni narinureba hana no tameshi ni magau shirayuki
- English Translation
-
The year at its close,
and now that spring is breaking
like the dawn,
mistaken for an instance of blossoms,
the falling white snow
- Meaning
- Now that the year has ended and spring is about to dawn, the white snow falls so like blossoms it could be taken for them.
- Commentary
-
Book Eight Winter Poems 500
Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that now that the year has ended and spring is about to dawn, the white snow falls so like blossoms that it could be mistaken for them. At the year's end, with spring at hand, the falling snow is overlaid with the longed-for blossoms.
Like 497 in this book, it likens snow of the season near spring to blossoms. It is placed near the end of the book, where poems on the year's end follow one another.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.
The first line, "Toshi kurete," means "the year having ended."
In the second line, "akegata" means "the time when the year turns and spring is about to begin," applying to spring the word for "daybreak."
The third line, "narinureba," means "since it has become."
In the fourth line, "tameshi" means an example: "as an instance of blossoms."
The last line, "magau shirayuki," means "the white snow that could be mistaken," closing the poem with a noun.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Toshi fukaku furitsumu yuki o miru toki zo Koshi no shirane ni sumu kokochi suru
- Next Poem
-
Haru chikaku furu shirayuki wa Ogurayama mine ni zo hana no sakari narikeru