あしひきの山路も知らず白樫の
枝にも葉にも雪の降れれば
枝にも葉にも雪の降れれば
- Roma-ji
-
Ashihiki no yamaji mo shirazu shirakashi no eda ni mo ha ni mo yuki no furereba
- English Translation
-
On the mountain slopes
I cannot tell the path at all,
for upon the oaks,
on their branches and their leaves,
the snow has fallen thick.
- Meaning
- I can no longer make out the mountain path, for snow has fallen on the white oaks, on their branches and their leaves alike.
- Commentary
-
Book Four Winter Poems 252
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Because snow has fallen on the white oaks, on their branches and their leaves alike, the poet can no longer tell where the mountain path lies. The depth of the snow blanketing the trees is conveyed through the bewilderment of losing the way.
The author, written as Hitomaro in kana, is Kakinomoto no Hitomaro. A court poet of the Asuka period, he is revered as the sage of poetry and the foremost poet of the Man'yōshū, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.
Book Ten of the Man'yōshū contains a very similar poem from the Kakinomoto no Hitomaro Collection.
First line, "ashihiki no," is a pillow word modifying "yama" (mountain).
Second line, "yamaji mo shirazu," means "I cannot tell the mountain path," and the poem pauses here, giving the reason afterward by inversion. Like the third line of the preceding poem, "michi mo nashi," it sings of a path buried in snow.
Third line, "shirakashi no," means "of the white oaks," repeating the sound "shira" from "shirazu" in the second line.
Fourth line, "eda ni mo ha ni mo," means "on branches and on leaves," saying the whole tree is covered in snow.
Final line, "yuki no furereba," means "since the snow has fallen," the perfective form with "ba" expressing a cause.
- Author
- Kakinomoto no Hitomaro
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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