み吉野の雪にこもれる山人も
ふる道とめて音をや泣くらん
ふる道とめて音をや泣くらん
- Roma-ji
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Miyoshino no yuki ni komoreru yamabito mo furumichi tomete ne o ya nakuran
- English Translation
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Even the hill folk
shut in by the snows that fall
on fair Yoshino,
seeking out the old snowed paths,
do they too cry aloud, I wonder?
- Meaning
- Even the mountain folk shut in by the snows of Yoshino, seeking out the old paths where the snow falls, do they too cry aloud, I wonder?
- Commentary
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Book Thirteen Love Poems III 847
Headnote: "On visiting a woman with whom ties had been broken for some years, as snow was falling"
The poem wonders whether the mountain dwellers shut in by the snows of Yoshino also cry aloud, seeking out the old paths where snow falls. The headnote shows it was composed on a snowy day when visiting a woman with whom ties had been broken for years. Likening oneself to a mountain dweller of snowbound Yoshino, it sings of a heart that has followed the old path to visit again.
The author, "Minamoto no Kageakira," was a poet of the mid-Heian period whose poems are included in the imperial anthologies.
First line, "Miyoshino no," means "of Yoshino," with "mi" an honorific prefix. Yoshino is a poetic place known for deep snow.
Second line, "yuki ni komoreru," means "shut in by the snow." Taking up the first snow of the preceding poem, 846, it sings of snow.
Third line, "yamabito mo," means "the mountain dwellers too."
Fourth line, "furumichi tomete," is a pivot word: "furu" means snow "falling" and "old," as in the old path. "tomete" means "seeking out," overlaid with visiting the woman of former days in the headnote.
Final line, "ne o ya nakuran," means "do they cry aloud," concluding in the attributive form of the present conjectural "ran" in answer to "ya."
- Author
- Minamoto no Kageakira
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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Shimo no ue ni furu hatsuyuki no asagōri tokezu mo mono o omou koro kana
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Tanometsutsu konu yo amata ni narinureba mataji to omou zo matsu ni masareru