Chihayaburu kami no igaki ni yuki furite sora yori kakaru yū ni zo arikeru - Shui Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

ちはやぶる神の斎垣に雪降りて
空よりかかる木綿にぞありける

Roma-ji: Chihayaburu kami no igaki ni yuki furite sora yori kakaru yū ni zo arikeru
English Translation: Upon the sacred fence
of the mighty gods the snow
has fallen, and look,
hung there down from the sky,
it is the white mulberry cloth.
Meaning: Snow has fallen on the sacred fence of the mighty gods, and it is, I see, the white mulberry cloth hung down from the sky.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Autumn Poems 1150

Headnote: "Topic unknown"
The poet likens the snow fallen on the fence of a shrine to white mulberry cloth hung down from the sky. Overlaying the snow with the white mulberry cloth hung on sacred sakaki branches in rites, it portrays the purity of snow falling on sacred ground. Following the preceding poem, 1149, it is another poem concerning the gods.
The third line of the main text reads "koto furite," but in light of "yuki furite" in the reading line, "koto" appears to be a miscopying of "yuki," snow. Here it is treated as "yuki."

First line, "chihayaburu," is a pillow word leading to "kami," the gods.
Second line, "kami no igaki ni," means "on the fence around the shrine." It echoes the fourth line of 1135 in this book, "shime oba koete," in singing of the bounds of sacred ground.
Third line, "yuki furite," means "the snow falls." From 1151 through 1153, poems on snow follow one another.
Fourth line, "sora yori kakaru," means "hung down from the sky."
Final line, "yū ni zo arikeru," means "it is, I see, the mulberry cloth," with the binding particle "zo" resolved by "keru," the attributive form of "keri," a sigh of realization.
Author: Unknown Poet
Source: Shui Wakashu
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