いつの間に降り積もるらん
み吉野の山の峡より崩れ落つる雪
み吉野の山の峡より崩れ落つる雪
- Roma-ji
-
Itsu no ma ni furitsumoruran Miyoshino no yama no kai yori kuzure otsuru yuki
- English Translation
-
When could it have fallen
and piled up so high, I wonder—
from the gorge between
the hills of fair Yoshino
the snow that comes crashing down
- Meaning
- When could it have fallen and piled up so deep—this snow that comes crashing down from the gorge in the hills of Yoshino?
- Commentary
-
Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems III 1236
Headnote: "Composed in attendance when the Cloistered Emperor viewed the Yoshino waterfall."
The poet wonders when the snow crashing down from the gorge of the Yoshino hills could have piled up. Seeing the white water of the Yoshino falls as snow tumbling from the gorge, he praises the grandeur of the scene.
According to the headnote, he composed it in attendance on Cloistered Emperor Uda when the emperor viewed the Yoshino waterfall. The next poem is the emperor's own from the same occasion, and the two are set side by side.
The poet, Minamoto no Noboru, is given in the text as "Lord Minamoto no Noboru." A son of Minamoto no Tōru, the Kawara Minister of the Left, he rose to Major Counselor.
The first line, "Itsu no ma ni," means "when could it have."
The second line, "furitsumoruran," means "fallen and piled up, I wonder," with "ran" present conjecture. The poem pauses here, inverted with the lower verse.
The third line, "Miyoshino no," means "of Yoshino" in Yamato, with "mi" an honorific prefix.
The fourth line, "yama no kai yori," means "from the gorge between the hills," where the falls drop.
The last line, "kuzure otsuru yuki," means "the snow that comes crashing down," seeing the falling water as snow and ending on a noun. The next poem likewise sings of the falling water as "white foam."
- Author
- Minamoto no Noboru
- Source
- Gosen Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Takitsuse ni tare shiratama o midariken hirou to seshi ni sode wa hichiniki
- Next Poem
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Miya no taki mube mo na ni oite kikoekeri otsuru shiraawa no tama to hibikeba