Asa madaki minori no niwa ni furu yuki wa sora yori hana no chiru ka to zo miru - Senzai Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

朝まだき御法の庭に降る雪は
空より花の散るかとぞ見る

Roma-ji: Asa madaki minori no niwa ni furu yuki wa sora yori hana no chiru ka to zo miru
English Translation: In the early dawn
on the garden of the Law
the falling snow,
like flowers scattering down
from the sky, so it seems to me
Meaning: The snow falling in the early morning on the garden of the Law looks to me like flowers scattering down from the sky.
Commentary: Book Nineteen Buddhist Poems 1248

Headnote: "Composed on the theme of hearing the Law on a snowy morning"
This poem was composed on the theme of hearing the Law on a snowy morning. The snow falling early in the morning on the garden of the Law looks like flowers scattering from the sky, he says. In the Lotus Sutra flowers rain down from the heavens when the Buddha preaches, and he sees the snow falling on the garden of the service that snowy morning as those heavenly flowers. It is a poem that brings the familiar waka conceit of seeing snow as blossoms into the setting of the Buddha's Law.
The author, "Nakahara no Kiyoshige," was an official of the late Heian period, but the details of his life are not known.
1239 and 1246 in this book sing of flowers falling on the place of preaching, and this poem sees those flowers in the snow. In particular, "nori no niwa wa" in the third line of 1239 and "minori no niwa ni" in the second line of this poem use the same words.

First line, "asa madaki": "while it is still early morning."
Second line, "minori no niwa ni": "minori no niwa" is the place of a service where the Law is preached. It is the same phrase as "nori no niwa wa" in the third line of 1239 in this book.
Third line, "furu yuki wa": "the snow that falls," taking up the "snowy morning" of the headnote.
Fourth line, "sora yori hana no": "flowers from the sky," the flowers that rain from the heavens at the Buddha's preaching.
Fifth line, "chiru ka to zo miru": "zo," an emphatic binding particle, closes with the attributive "miru." The snow is seen as flowers.
Author: Nakahara no Kiyoshige
Source: Senzai Wakashu
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