Mashiba karu ono no hosomichi ato taete fukaku mo yuki no narinikeru kana - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

真柴刈る小野の細道跡絶えて
深くも雪のなりにけるかな

Roma-ji: Mashiba karu ono no hosomichi ato taete fukaku mo yuki no narinikeru kana
English Translation: On the narrow path
across the moor where brush is cut
all tracks have vanished:
how deep indeed the snow
has grown upon the ground
Meaning: On the narrow path over the moor where people go to cut brushwood, the tracks have disappeared; how deep the snow has grown.
Commentary: Book Six Winter Poems 465

Headnote: "Composed as a poem on snow"
Composed as a poem on snow. On the narrow path over the moor where people go to cut brushwood, the poet says, the tracks have disappeared, and the snow has grown deep. He sees the depth of the snow in a path that even the brush-cutters, whose work is vital for winter living, no longer tread.
The author, "Fujiwara no Tamesue," was a poet of the cloistered-rule period, but little is known of his life.
Poems on snow continue from 445 to 467. This poem and the next, 466, are poems on snow placed under the same headnote.

First line, "mashiba karu": "mashiba" is an elegant word for brushwood cut for fuel. "Where brush is cut" modifies the "hosomichi," narrow path, of the second line.
Second line, "ono no hosomichi": "ono" is a moor, and this is the narrow path across it.
Third line, "ato taete": "the tracks have vanished." Like "ato mo tae" in 458 and "ato taenureba" in 467 of this book, it sings of snow cutting off human passage.
Fourth line, "fukaku mo yuki no": "mo" carries exclamation, "how deep."
Fifth line, "narinikeru kana": the perfective "ni," the attributive "keru" of the exclamatory "keri," and the exclamatory "kana" close with deep feeling.
Author: Fujiwara no Tamesue
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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