Shimogare no magaki no uchi no yuki mireba kiku yori nochi no hana mo arikeri - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

霜枯れの籬の内の雪見れば
菊よりのちの花もありけり

Roma-ji: Shimogare no magaki no uchi no yuki mireba kiku yori nochi no hana mo arikeri
English Translation: When I see the snow
within the bamboo fence where all
has withered in the frost,
there are flowers after all
that bloom after the chrysanthemums
Meaning: Seeing the snow inside the frost-withered fence, I find there are flowers after all that bloom later than the chrysanthemums.
Commentary: Book Six Winter Poems 449

Headnote: "Composed as a poem on snow"
Composed as a poem on snow. Seeing the snow inside the frost-withered fence, the poet says, he finds there are flowers after all that bloom after the chrysanthemums. It had been said that once the chrysanthemums finished, there were no more flowers, but if the snow on the fence is taken for flowers, he delights, there are flowers after the chrysanthemums too.
The author, "Fujiwara no Suketaka Ason," was an official and poet of the cloistered-rule period, said to be the author of the book of court customs Renchūshō.
Poems on snow continue from 445 to 467. Among Yuan Zhen's lines taken into the Wakan Rōeishū is one saying that it is not that he loves the chrysanthemum alone among flowers, but that when it has bloomed there are no more flowers to come. Drawing on this, the poem discovers in snow a flower that comes after the chrysanthemum.

First line, "shimogare no": "withered by frost." 428 of this book opens with the same line.
Second line, "magaki no uchi no": a "magaki" is a loosely woven fence of bamboo or brushwood, often sung of as the place where chrysanthemums are grown.
Third line, "yuki mireba": "ba" gives a fixed condition, "when I see the snow."
Fourth line, "kiku yori nochi no": "after the chrysanthemums have finished," drawing on Yuan Zhen's lines.
Fifth line, "hana mo arikeri": the "flowers" are the snow seen as blossoms, and "keri" expresses realization, "there were flowers too." 466 of this book also likens snow to flowers.
Author: Fujiwara no Suketaka
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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