Unohana no yosome narikeri yamazato no kakine bakari ni fureru shirayuki - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

卯の花のよそめなりけり山里の
垣根ばかりに降れる白雪

Roma-ji: Unohana no yosome narikeri yamazato no kakine bakari ni fureru shirayuki
English Translation: It was the deutzia
seen from afar that fooled me:
in the mountain village
the white snow that seemed to lie
upon the hedges alone
Meaning: It was only deutzia seen from afar: the white snow that seemed to lie on the hedges of the mountain village alone.
Commentary: Book Three Summer Poems 143

Headnote: "Composed on the topic 'Deutzia in a Distant Village'"
Composed on the topic "Deutzia in a Distant Village." White snow seemed to lie only on the hedges of a far-off mountain village, but it was deutzia seen from afar. The puzzle of hedges alone being white in summer, when no snow could fall, is resolved as a trick of distant sight, setting off the whiteness of the flowers.
The author, "Kamo no Masahira," was a member of a family of priests serving the Kamo Shrines. Little else is known of his life.

First line, "unohana no": modifies "yosome" in the second line.
Second line, "yosome narikeri": "yosome" means seeing from afar, or the mistake that results, and "keri" expresses realization. The poem pauses here and is inverted with the lines that follow.
Third line, "yamazato no": "of a mountain village," expressing the headnote's "distant village."
Fourth line, "kakine bakari ni": the restrictive "bakari" gives "on the hedges alone." Like 139 and 142 of this book, it depicts deutzia on hedges.
Fifth line, "fureru shirayuki": ends on a noun, likening deutzia to white snow. After the preceding poem, 142, echoed their whiteness in "Shirakawa," this poem likens them to snow.
Author: Kamo no Masahira
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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