Furu yuki ni shiorishi shiba mo uzumorete omowanu yama ni fuyugomorinuru

降る雪に枝折りし柴も埋もれて
思はぬ山に冬籠りぬる

Roma-ji: Furu yuki ni shiorishi shiba mo uzumorete omowanu yama ni fuyugomorinuru
English Translation: In the falling snow
the twigs I broke to mark the way
now lie buried deep,
and on a mountain unforeseen
I am shut in for the winter.
Meaning: The twigs I broke to mark my way are buried in the falling snow, and I find myself shut in for the winter on a mountain I never expected.
Commentary: Winter Poems 530

Headnote: "Snow burying the path"
The topic is snow burying the path. Even the twigs the poet broke off along the mountain path to mark the way are buried in the falling snow, so the way back is lost and he finds himself shut in for the winter on a mountain he never meant to stay on.
Where 494 in this book told of being forced into winter seclusion by fallen leaves before any snow had come, this poem tells of seclusion forced by snow burying the path, so the two poems treat the same seclusion through leaves and through snow.

First line, “furu yuki ni”: in the falling snow, with ni marking the cause.
Second line, “shiorishi shiba mo”: shioru is to break off twigs as markers on a mountain path, and shi is the attributive of the past auxiliary ki.
Third line, “uzumorete”: buried and hidden, answering the burying of the topic.
Fourth line, “omowanu yama ni”: on a mountain I never thought of, one where he had not planned to spend the winter.
Fifth line, “fuyugomorinuru”: nuru is the attributive of the perfective nu, the poem trailing off in the attributive form to leave a lingering feeling.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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