Yuki fukaki yamaji ni nani ni kaeru ran haru matsu hana no kage ni tomarade - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

雪深き山路に何に帰るらん
春待つ花の陰にとまらで

Roma-ji: Yuki fukaki yamaji ni nani ni kaeru ran haru matsu hana no kage ni tomarade
English Translation: Along mountain paths
deep in snow, why must you go
back now, I wonder,
not lingering in the shade
of blossoms that await the spring?
Meaning: Why must you return along the snowbound mountain path, instead of lingering in the shade of the blossoms that wait for spring?
Commentary: Book Four Winter Poems 259

Headnote: "For a folding screen painting, a scene on the morning after the Buddha Names service, where the officiating priest and the host take up earthenware cups beneath a plum tree and lament their parting"
The poem laments parting with a priest who, having finished the Butsumyō-e, returns along a snowbound mountain path, asking why he goes rather than lingering in the shade of the plum blossoms that wait for spring. The contrast between the snowy mountain road and the plum awaiting spring expresses the host's reluctance to part. According to the headnote, it was written for a folding screen painting of the morning after the Buddha Names service, where the officiating priest and the host exchange cups beneath a plum tree and lament their parting.
The author, written as Yoshinobu, is Ōnakatomi no Yoshinobu. From the Ōnakatomi family, who served as chief priests of the Ise Shrine, he took part in compiling the Gosenshū and in reading the Man'yōshū as one of the Five Men of the Pear Chamber, and he is counted among the Thirty-Six Immortal Poets.

First line, "yuki fukaki," means "deep in snow."
Second line, "yamaji ni nani ni," means "to the mountain path, why," with "nani ni" asking a reason.
Third line, "kaeru ran," means "do you return, I wonder," with "ran" an auxiliary conjecturing a cause. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "haru matsu hana no," means "of the flowers that await spring," referring to the plum in the headnote.
Final line, "kage ni tomarade," means "without lingering in the shade," with "de" a negative conjunctive particle. By inversion it gives afterward the place where the host wishes the priest would stay.
Author: Onakatomi no Yoshinobu
Source: Shui Wakashu
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