Kakikurasu yuki ni kigisu wa mienedomo haoto ni suzu o kuwaete zo yaru

かきくらす雪に雉は見えねども
羽音に鈴を加へてぞやる

Roma-ji: Kakikurasu yuki ni kigisu wa mienedomo haoto ni suzu o kuwaete zo yaru
English Translation: Darkening the sky,
the snow hides the pheasant
from our sight, and yet
with the bell joined to its wingbeat
we send the falcon off.
Meaning: In the snow that darkens the whole sky the pheasant cannot be seen, yet we loose the hawk, the sound of its bell joined to the beating of its wings.
Commentary: Winter Poems 524

Headnote: "Falconry in the snow"
The topic is falconry in the snow, and this is the second poem in the falconry sequence. Snow falls so thick that it darkens the sky and the pheasant cannot be seen, yet the hawk with a bell on its tail is loosed, the sound of the bell joined to the beat of its wings. The poem catches a hunt in snow where nothing can be seen through the sounds of wings and bell.
Following the preceding poem on the dog handlers' voices calling the hawk back, this one renders the moment of loosing the hawk through sound, carrying the scene of the hunt forward in voices and sounds.

First line, “kakikurasu”: kakikurasu is to darken the whole sky, describing the heavy snowfall.
Second line, “yuki ni kigisu wa”: kigisu is an old name for the pheasant, the quarry of the hunt.
Third line, “mienedomo”: ne is the perfective form of the negative zu, and domo is concessive, though it cannot be seen.
Fourth line, “haoto ni suzu o”: haoto is the sound of the hawk's wings, and suzu is the bell tied to its tail.
Fifth line, “kuwaete zo yaru”: zo is an emphatic particle binding with the attributive yaru, which means to send off or loose.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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