Nami to nomi hitoe ni kikedo iro mireba yuki to hana to ni magaikeru kana - Tosa Nikki(English Translation & Meaning)

浪とのみひとへに聞けどいろ見れば
雪と花とにまがひけるかな

Roma-ji: Nami to nomi hitoe ni kikedo iro mireba yuki to hana to ni magaikeru kana
English Translation: I had heard them called
nothing but waves, and yet when
I see their color,
they are blurred with snow and with
blossoms, hard to tell apart
Meaning: I had heard them only as waves, but seeing their color, I cannot tell them from snow and blossoms.
Commentary: 31 The Twenty-Second Day of the First Month: Moving Mountains and Flowers of Foam

On the twenty-second day of the first month, the party set out from the previous night's anchorage toward another. Mountains could be seen in the distance. The sea was rough that day; spray scattered over the rocky shore like falling snow, and the waves broke into flowers of foam.
On board was a boy of about nine, who seemed younger than his years.
Seeing the rough sea, with snow seeming to fall on the shore and the waves breaking into flowers, a certain person composed this poem.
The diary records no response. On the next day, the twenty-third, the sun shone and clouds came and went, and because this area was said to be in danger from pirates, the party prayed to the gods and buddhas.

The first line, "Nami to nomi," means "only as waves." In the second line, "hitoe ni kikedo," "hitoe ni" means "simply, solely": though I had heard them only as waves.
The third line, "iro mireba," means "when I see their color." The fourth and final lines, "yuki to hana to ni magaikeru kana," close with the exclamatory particle "kana": they cannot be told apart from snow and flowers. "Magau" means to mingle until things can no longer be distinguished.
The poem sees the white breaking waves as both snow and flowers, sharing the same idea as "Tatsu nami o yuki ka hana ka to fuku kaze zo yosetsutsu hito o hakaru beranaru" on the eighteenth day of the first month. Its craft lies in the contrast between the sound of the waves heard by the ear and their color seen by the eye.
Author: Ki no Tsurayuki
Source: Tosa Nikki
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