春立ちて朝の原の雪見れば
まだふる年の心地こそすれ
まだふる年の心地こそすれ
- Roma-ji
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Haru tachite ashita no hara no yuki mireba mada furutoshi no kokochi koso sure
- English Translation
-
Now that spring has come,
when I look upon the snow
of Ashita's plain,
it is still as if I felt
the old year with snow falling.
- Meaning
- Though spring has come, when I see the snow on the plain of Ashita, it feels as though the old, snow-falling year were still here.
- Commentary
-
Book One Spring Poems 7
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Though spring has begun, snow still lies upon the plain of Ashita no Hara, and it feels as if the old winter were still here. The gap between spring by the calendar and the wintry scene before the eyes is deftly expressed through the pivot word "furu."
Taira no Suketaka was a poet of the mid-Heian period; little is known of his life.
First line, "haru tachite," means "spring having begun." The next poem opens with the same line, and the two, both about snow lingering after spring's arrival, are placed together.
Second line, "ashita no hara no," names Ashita no Hara, a famous place in Yamato, whose name, meaning "morning," evokes the morning of spring's first day. The same plain appears again in poem 18 of this book.
Third line, "yuki mireba," means "when I see the snow," with "ba" marking an established condition.
Fourth line, "mada furutoshi no," is a pivot word: "furu" means both snow "falling" and the year "growing old." The still-falling snow is overlaid with the lingering traces of the year just past.
Final line, "kokochi koso sure," uses "koso" with the perfective form "sure" in a kakari-musubi construction, emphasizing the feeling that the old year remains.
- Author
- Taira no Suketaka
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Kōri dani tomaranu haru no tanikaze ni mada uchitokenu uguisu no koe
- Next Poem
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Haru tachite nao furumiya wa ume no hana saku hodo mo naku chiru ka to zo miru