呉竹の折れ伏す音のなかりせば
夜深き雪をいかで知らまし
夜深き雪をいかで知らまし
- Roma-ji
-
Kuretake no orefusu oto no nakariseba yobukaki yuki o ikade shiramashi
- English Translation
-
Had there been no sound
of the black bamboo snapping
and bending to the ground,
how could I have ever known
of the snow deep in the night?
- Meaning
- Had there been no sound of the bamboo snapping and bowing down, how could I ever have known of the snow falling deep in the night?
- Commentary
-
Book Six Winter Poems 464
Headnote: "Topic unknown"
Had there been no sound of the bamboo snapping and bowing down under the snow, the poet says, how could he ever have known of the snow piling up deep in the night? The conceit of knowing the silent snow by the sound of breaking bamboo conveys, through a single sound, both the depth of the hushed night and the weight of the snow.
The author, "Sakanoue no Akikane," came from the Sakanoue family, whose hereditary calling was the study of law, and served as Doctor of Law.
Poems on snow continue from 445 to 467. Following 446 and 447 of this book, which sing of knowing the snow without seeing it, this poem knows the night's snow by sound. Following the bamboo by the eaves of 462, it also pairs snow with bamboo.
First line, "kuretake no": "kuretake" is another name for the hachiku bamboo, said to have come from China.
Second line, "orefusu oto no": "the sound of snapping and bowing down" under the weight of the snow.
Third line, "nakariseba": "seba" is the counterfactual supposition answering "mashi" in the last line, "had there been none."
Fourth line, "yobukaki yuki o": "the snow that fell deep in the night."
Fifth line, "ikade shiramashi": "ikade" is rhetorical, "how could I have known?" and the counterfactual "mashi" answers "seba" in the third line.
- Author
- Sakanoue no Akikane
- Source
- Senzai Wakashu
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