Yamazato wa kasumiwatareru keshiki nite sora ni ya haru no tatsu o shiruran

山里は霞みわたれるけしきにて
空にや春の立つを知るらん

Roma-ji: Yamazato wa kasumiwatareru keshiki nite sora ni ya haru no tatsu o shiruran
English Translation: In the mountain hamlet,
by the haze spread far and wide,
by such signs alone,
is it from the sky they learn
that springtime has risen now?
Meaning: In a mountain village, is it from the haze spread all across the sky that people learn spring has begun?
Commentary: Spring Poems 7

Headnote: "On the topic “Spring begins in a mountain village”"
The topic is the coming of spring to a mountain village. In a remote hamlet, where visitors are few and news of the calendar is slow to arrive, the poet surmises that people must learn of spring's arrival from the haze that spreads across the sky.
Unlike the capital, where spring is known through the calendar and court ceremonies, here the landscape itself announces it, and the poem carries the poet's feeling for life in the mountains. True to the name Sankashū, it shows spring seen from a mountain dwelling.

First line, “yamazato wa”: wa singles out the mountain village in contrast to the capital.
Second line, “kasumiwatareru”: haze spread all across, with ru expressing a continuing state.
Third line, “keshiki nite”: by that sight, the sign through which spring is known.
Fourth line, “sora ni ya haru no”: the interrogative particle ya forms a kakari-musubi with ran in the fifth line, asking whether spring has come to the hazy sky.
Fifth line, “tatsu o shiruran”: do they know spring has risen, closing with the conjectural ran in answer to ya in the fourth line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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