桜花みかさの山の陰しあれば
雪と降れども濡れじとぞ思ふ
雪と降れども濡れじとぞ思ふ
- Roma-ji
-
Sakurabana Mikasa no yama no kage shi areba yuki to furedomo nureji to zo omou
- English Translation
-
Though cherry blossoms
fall like snow, since I have here
the shelter of the hat,
Mount Mikasa, I think that
I will not be wet at all.
- Meaning
- Though the cherry blossoms fall like snow, I think I will not get wet, for I am sheltered by Mount Mikasa, whose very name means "hat."
- Commentary
-
Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Spring Poems 1056
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet says that though the cherry blossoms fall like snow, he will not get wet, since he is in the shelter of Mount Mikasa, whose name means "honored hat." Pivoting the place name Mikasa on "mikasa," an honored hat, it is a witty poem likening the falling petals to snow and the mountain's shelter to a hat that keeps off the rain. The device of seeing falling blossoms as snow also links it with 1051 in this book.
First line, "sakurabana," means "the cherry blossoms."
Second line, "Mikasa no yama no," means "of Mount Mikasa," with "mikasa" a pivot word on Mount Mikasa in Nara and an "honored hat."
Third line, "kage shi areba," means "since there is its shelter," with "shi" emphatic and "ba" after the perfective form expressing cause.
Fourth line, "yuki to furedomo," means "though they fall like snow," likening the falling blossoms to snow. It shares this image with the fourth line of 1051 in this book, "kiesenu yuki to."
Final line, "nureji to zo omou," means "I think I will not get wet," with "ji" an auxiliary of negative conjecture and the binding particle "zo" resolved by the attributive "omou."
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Shui Wakashu
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Toshigoto ni haru no nagame wa seshikadomo mi sae furu tomo omowazarishi o