Ware hitori koshi no yamaji ni koshikadomo yuki furinikeru ato o miru kana - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

我ひとり越の山路に来しかども
雪ふりにける跡を見るかな

Roma-ji: Ware hitori koshi no yamaji ni koshikadomo yuki furinikeru ato o miru kana
English Translation: Alone, all alone,
I came along the mountain road
of Koshi's far land,
yet I see the tracks grown old
where the snow has fallen deep.
Meaning: Though I came alone along the mountain road of Koshi, I find old tracks where the snow has fallen.
Commentary: Book Four Winter Poems 248

Headnote: "For a folding screen painting depicting Shirayama in Koshi"
The poet had thought he came alone along the mountain road of Koshi, yet he finds the old tracks of someone who went before him in the snow. The poem expresses the solitude of a remote snowy mountain road and the feeling stirred by finding traces of another even there. According to the headnote, it was written for a folding screen painting depicting Shirayama in Koshi.
The author, written as Fujiwara no Suketada Ason, was an official of the mid-Heian period; little is known of his life.

First line, "ware hitori," means "I alone."
Second line, "koshi no yamaji ni," means "on the mountain road of Koshi," a snowy mountain road in the Hokuriku region. The next poem, 249, also sings of "Shirayama in Koshi," so poems on the same screen subject stand together.
Third line, "koshikadomo," means "though I came," repeating the sound of "Koshi" in the second line.
Fourth line, "yuki furinikeru," plays on "furu" as snow falling and as growing old, meaning "grown old under fallen snow."
Final line, "ato o miru kana," means "I see the tracks," with "kana" exclamatory.
Author: Fujiwara no Suketada
Source: Shui Wakashu
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