Ada ni chiru kozue no hana o nagamureba niwa ni wa kienu yuki zo tsumoreru

あだに散る梢の花を眺むれば
庭には消えぬ雪ぞ積もれる

Roma-ji: Ada ni chiru kozue no hana o nagamureba niwa ni wa kienu yuki zo tsumoreru
English Translation: As I gaze upon
blossoms on the treetops there,
scattering so fast,
in the garden lies a snow
that will never melt away.
Meaning: As I gaze at the treetop blossoms scattering so fleetingly, a snow that never melts lies piled in the garden.
Commentary: Spring Poems 137

Headnote: "On seeing the blossoms of Shirakawa lovely in the garden"
According to the headnote, the poet composed this on seeing the blossoms of Shirakawa lovely in the garden. Gazing at the treetop blossoms scattering so fleetingly, he finds a snow lying in the garden that never melts, likening the fallen petals to snow.
The charm lies in the contrast: on the boughs the blossoms fall so quickly, yet the petals piled in the garden, unlike real snow, do not melt away. Following the preceding poem, which saw petals in the garden as waves, this one sees them as snow. The fourth line in the source reads ma ni wa, but following niwa ni wa in the kana line it is read as niwa ni wa, in the garden.

First line, “ada ni chiru”: falling fleetingly.
Second line, “kozue no hana o”: the blossoms at the branch tips.
Third line, “nagamureba”: as I gaze, lost in thought.
Fourth line, “niwa ni wa kienu”: in the garden, never melting, petals that do not dissolve as true snow would.
Fifth line, “yuki zo tsumoreru”: the emphatic zo forms a kakari-musubi with the attributive ru, closing by likening the fallen petals to snow.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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