Tachinoboru asahi no kage no sasu mama ni miyako no yuki wa kiemi kiezumi

立ちのぼる朝日の影のさすままに
都の雪は消えみ消えずみ

Roma-ji: Tachinoboru asahi no kage no sasu mama ni miyako no yuki wa kiemi kiezumi
English Translation: As the morning sun
climbing higher in the sky
sends its rays across,
the snow upon the capital
melts here, and there remains.
Meaning: As the rising morning sun casts its light, the snow across the capital melts in some places and lingers in others.
Commentary: Winter Poems 527

Headnote: "On a snowy morning, at a place called Ryōzen, when people were composing on the view"
The headnote tells us this was composed on a snowy morning at a place called Ryōzen in the Higashiyama hills of the capital, when people were writing on the view. Looking down on the city from the heights, the poet sees that as the rays of the rising sun spread, the snow melts where the light falls and stays where it does not, so the snow of the capital vanishes in patches.
Where 526 in this book told of snow lying in patches in a garden, this poem tells of the snow over the whole capital, seen from above, melting away in patches, catching the snow on the scale of a garden and of a city.

First line, “tachinoboru”: rising, the morning sun climbing gradually higher.
Second line, “asahi no kage no”: kage here is the light of the sun.
Third line, “sasu mama ni”: mama ni means as, in step with.
Fourth line, “miyako no yuki wa”: the snow of the capital seen from Ryōzen, answering the view of the topic.
Fifth line, “kiemi kiezumi”: the pattern mi... mi shows alternating actions, now melting, now not.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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