白樫の雪も消えにしあしひきの
山路を誰かふみ迷ふべき
山路を誰かふみ迷ふべき
- Roma-ji
-
Shirakashi no yuki mo kienishi ashihiki no yamaji o tare ka fumimayou beki
- English Translation
-
Even the snow upon
the white oaks has melted now
on the foot-weary
mountain road—who, then, could
lose their tread, their letters there
- Meaning
- On a mountain road where even the snow on the white oaks has melted away, who could possibly lose his footing—or his letter?
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems III 1206
Headnote: "Reply."
The poet asks who could lose his footing on a mountain road where even the snow on the white oaks has melted. Retorting that no one could go astray on a road with nothing to hide the way, he seems to hint that the letter reached her not by mistake, revealing his feelings for Taifu.
It is Atsutada's reply to Taifu's preceding poem.
The poet, "Lord Atsutada," is Fujiwara no Atsutada. The third son of the Minister of the Left Fujiwara no Tokihira, he rose to Provisional Middle Counselor. One of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals, he is represented in the Ogura Hyakunin Isshu by "Aimite no nochi no kokoro ni kurabureba."
The first line, "Shirakashi no," means "of the white oaks," calling to mind snow lying on the branches of these evergreen trees.
The second line, "yuki mo kienishi," means "even the snow has melted away," leaving nothing to hide the path.
The third line, "ashihiki no," is a pillow word for "mountain," answering the same pillow word in the third line of the preceding poem.
The fourth line, "yamaji o tare ka," means "who, on the mountain road," with "ka" a rhetorical binding particle.
The last line, "fumimayou beki," is a pivot word on "fumi," treading and letter: who could go astray? No one. The "ka" of the fourth line is closed by the attributive "beki." It takes up directly "yama fumimayou" in the fourth line of the preceding poem.
- Author
- Fujiwara no Atsutada
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Michi shiranu mono nara naku ni ashihiki no yama fumimayou hito mo arikeri
- Next Poem
-
Iu koto no tagawanu mono ni aramaseba nochi uki koto to kikoezaramashi