Mubatama no yoru nomi fureru shirayuki wa teru tsukikage no tsumoru narikeri - Gosen Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

むばたまの夜のみ降れる白雪は
照る月影の積もるなりけり

Roma-ji: Mubatama no yoru nomi fureru shirayuki wa teru tsukikage no tsumoru narikeri
English Translation: In the jet-black night,
only then the snow has fallen,
the white snow—
it is the shining moonlight,
I see now, piled up
Meaning: The white snow that fell only in the night was, I see, the light of the shining moon piled up.
Commentary: Book Eight Winter Poems 503

Headnote: "Topic unknown."
The poet says that the white snow fallen only at night was the light of the shining moon piled up. The whiteness of snow piled up in the night is conveyed by seeing it as moonlight itself, heaped up.
Where 496 in this book sang that daytime snow in the garden would be taken for the moon were it night, this poem sees night snow as moonlight piled up, so that the conceit of overlaying snow with moonlight forms a pair.
The poet is listed as "anonymous," and the composer's name has not come down to us.

The first line, "Mubatama no," is a pillow word modifying "night," "black" and the like.
The second line, "yoru nomi fureru," means "that fell only at night," with "ru" the attributive form of the continuative auxiliary "ri."
The third line, "shirayuki wa," means "the white snow."
In the fourth line, "tsukikage" means moonlight, answering "tsuki to zo mimashi" in 496 in this book.
In the last line, "narikeri" expresses realization: "it was, I now see, piled up."
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Gosen Wakashu
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