Yoshinoyama mine no shirayuki itsu kiete kesa wa kasumi no tachikawaruran - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

吉野山峰の白雪いつ消えて
今朝は霞の立ちかはるらん

Roma-ji: Yoshinoyama mine no shirayuki itsu kiete kesa wa kasumi no tachikawaruran
English Translation: On Yoshino's peaks
the white snow that lay so deep,
when did it vanish,
that this morning haze instead
should rise up in its place there?
Meaning: When did the white snow on the peaks of Yoshino melt away, that this morning haze should rise up in its place?
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems 4

Headnote: "When the Reizei Retired Emperor, then Crown Prince, commanded that poems be presented"
Seeing haze rising this morning on the peaks of Mount Yoshino, which until yesterday were covered with white snow, the poet wonders when the snow vanished and the haze took its place. The shift from winter to spring is grasped as an exchange between white snow and haze. According to the headnote, it was composed when the future Emperor Reizei, still Crown Prince, ordered poems to be presented; the hundred-poem sequence Shigeyuki offered on that occasion is known as the Shigeyuki Hyakushu.
Minamoto no Shigeyuki was a poet of the mid-Heian period descended from the Seiwa Genji. He is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "Yoshinoyama," is a famous place in Yamato known for deep snow. Taking up "miyoshino no" from the first poem of this book, 1, it describes Yoshino as it turns to haze.
Second line, "mine no shirayuki," the white snow remaining on the summits, contrasts in color with the haze of the fourth line.
Third line, "itsu kiete," expresses wonder that the snow vanished unnoticed.
Fourth line, "kesa wa kasumi no," is the scene of the following morning; like "kesa wa miyuran" in poem 1, it fixes attention on the change in the mountain this morning.
Final line, "tachikawaruran," means "has the haze risen in place of the snow?"; the auxiliary "ran" conjectures about the cause of what is seen.
Author: Minamoto no Shigeyuki
Source: Shui Wakashu
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