Haru tachite nao furumiya wa ume no hana saku hodo mo naku chiru ka to zo miru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

春立ちて猶ふる宮は梅の花
咲くほどもなく散るかとぞ見る

Roma-ji: Haru tachite nao furumiya wa ume no hana saku hodo mo naku chiru ka to zo miru
English Translation: Now that spring has come,
at the old palace still falling,
the plum blossoms there
before they have time to bloom
seem to me to scatter down.
Meaning: Though spring has come, at the old palace where snow still falls, the plum blossoms seem to scatter almost before they have bloomed.
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems 8

Headnote: "For the poetry contest at the house of Sadafumi"
In the garden of an old palace where snow still falls after spring has begun, the poet takes the drifting snow for plum blossoms scattering the moment they open. The conceit of snow seen as plum blossoms is laid over the quiet scene of the aging palace. According to the headnote, the poem was submitted to the poetry contest at the house of Taira no Sadafumi, the same contest as poem 1 of this book.
The author, written as Mitsune, is Ōshikōchi no Mitsune. One of the compilers of the Kokinshū, he was ranked alongside Ki no Tsurayuki and is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
The second line of the main text reads "nao furumiya wa," which does not match "nao furu yuki wa" in the kana reading line. Here the main text is followed, and "furu" is read as a pivot word meaning both "old" and "falling."

First line, "haru tachite," is the same as in the preceding poem, forming a sequence on snowy scenes after the beginning of spring.
Second line, "nao furumiya wa," means "in the still-aging palace," with "furu" carrying both the sense of "old" and of snow "falling."
Third line, "ume no hana," sets out the plum blossom as the flower mistaken for snow, foreshadowing the snow-and-plum conceits of poems 9 and 12 that follow.
Fourth line, "saku hodo mo naku," means "no sooner have they bloomed."
Final line, "chiru ka to zo miru," closes with the attributive "miru" in response to "zo," strongly presenting the falling snow as scattering blossoms.
Author: Oshikochi no Mitsune
Source: Shui Wakashu
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