Koekanete ima zo Koshiji o Kaeruyama yuki furu toki no na ni koso arikere - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

越えかねて今ぞ越路をかへる山
雪降る時の名にこそありけれ

Roma-ji: Koekanete ima zo Koshiji o Kaeruyama yuki furu toki no na ni koso arikere
English Translation: Unable to cross,
now I turn back on the road
to Koshi at Kaeruyama:
it was for times of falling snow
that it was given this name
Meaning: Unable to cross over, I now turn back on the road to Koshi at Kaeruyama, "Return Mountain": so that is a name meant for when the snow falls.
Commentary: Book Six Winter Poems 459

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed as a poem on snow"
Composed as a poem on snow. Unable to cross for the snow, the poet says, he now turns back on the road to Koshi at Kaeruyama, so that is a name meant for when the snow falls. It is a playful poem that takes the name of Kaeruyama, "Return Mountain," a poetic place in Echizen Province, as having its origin in turning back when snow makes the crossing impossible.
The author, "Saki no Ukyō Gon-no-Daibu Yorimasa," was the son of Hyōgo no Kami Minamoto no Nakamasa. Through the Hōgen and Heiji disturbances he rose to the Junior Third Rank and was called Gen-Sanmi. In the fourth year of Jishō (1180) he raised troops with Prince Mochihito to overthrow the Taira, and took his own life after defeat at Uji.
Poems on snow continue from 445 to 467. The four poems from 457 to 460 are poems on snow placed under the same headnote. Taking up the "kaeru yamaji" of the preceding poem, 458, this poem sings of the poetic place Kaeruyama itself.

First line, "koekanete": "koekanu" is to try to cross and fail.
Second line, "ima zo Koshiji o": "Koshiji" is the road to the province of Koshi, the Hokurikudō. The emphatic "zo" closes with the attributive "kaeru" in the third line. The "koe" of the first line overlaps with the "Koshi" of "Koshiji."
Third line, "Kaeruyama": "kaeru" is a pivot word joining "kaeru," to turn back, and Kaeruyama, a poetic place in Echizen Province. The poem pauses here.
Fourth line, "yuki furu toki no": "for the time when snow falls," giving the origin of the mountain's name.
Fifth line, "na ni koso arikere": the emphatic "koso" closes with "kere" in the perfective form, and "keri" expresses realization, "so that is what the name was for."
Author: Minamoto no Yorimasa
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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