Ato tomuru koma no yukue wa sa mo araba are ureshiku kimi ni yuki ni ainuru

跡留むる駒の行方はさもあらばあれ
うれしく君にゆきにあひぬる

Roma-ji: Ato tomuru koma no yukue wa sa mo araba are ureshiku kimi ni yuki ni ainuru
English Translation: Where the horse may go
leaving hoofprints in its track,
let it be as it will:
happily it's you I've met
on my way here through the snow.
Meaning: Wherever the horse leaving its tracks may go, let it go as it will; how happy I am to have met you on my way through the snow.
Commentary: Winter Poems 534

Headnote: "Meeting a friend on a snowy morning"
The topic is meeting a friend on a snowy morning. Wherever the horse leaving its tracks in the snow may be heading does not matter; the poet is simply glad to have met his friend while making his way through the falling snow. The joy of an unexpected meeting with a friend on a snowy morning is expressed plainly.
Where the two preceding poems grudged the footprints of visitors marring the snow, this one does not mind leaving tracks and puts the joy of meeting a friend first, treating snow and people from the opposite side.

First line, “ato tomuru”: ato tomu is to leave a trail, the hoofprints left in the snow.
Second line, “koma no yukue wa”: koma is a horse.
Third line, “sa mo araba are”: a hypermetric line of seven syllables, let it be as it may; the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “ureshiku kimi ni”: happily, you.
Fifth line, “yuki ni ainuru”: yuki is a pivot word, the falling snow and the way along which one goes. Nuru is the attributive of the perfective, closing with a lingering feeling.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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