Yamaoroshi no ko no moto uzumu haru no yuki wa iwai ni uku mo kōri to zo miru

山おろしの木の下埋む春の雪は
岩井に浮くも氷とぞ見る

Roma-ji: Yamaoroshi no ko no moto uzumu haru no yuki wa iwai ni uku mo kōri to zo miru
English Translation: Down the mountain's wind,
the spring snow that buries deep
the ground beneath the trees:
floating in the rocky spring,
it looks to me like ice.
Meaning: The spring snow of petals that the mountain wind has heaped beneath the trees looks, where it floats in the rocky spring, like ice.
Commentary: Spring Poems 112

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing many poems on falling blossoms"
The poet sees the petals scattered by the mountain wind and burying the ground beneath the trees as spring snow, and even the petals floating in a spring among the rocks look to him like ice.
Likening fallen blossoms to snow, and floating petals to ice, the double conceit paints a winter scene within spring. The whiteness and cool beauty of the petals are vividly impressed on the reader.

First line, “yamaoroshi no”: of the wind sweeping down the mountain, a line with an extra syllable.
Second line, “ko no moto uzumu”: burying the ground beneath the trees.
Third line, “haru no yuki wa”: the spring snow, likening the fallen petals to snow, also with an extra syllable.
Fourth line, “iwai ni uku mo”: even those floating in the spring that wells between the rocks.
Fifth line, “kōri to zo miru”: the emphatic zo forms a kakari-musubi with the attributive miru, closing with seeing the floating petals as ice.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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