裏返す小忌の衣と見ゆるかな
竹のうれ葉に降れる白雪
竹のうれ葉に降れる白雪
- Roma-ji
-
Ura kaesu omi no koromo to miyuru kana take no ureba ni fureru shirayuki
- English Translation
-
Turned inside out, it seems,
the robe of sacred purity,
so it looks to me:
on the tips of bamboo leaves
the white snow that has fallen.
- Meaning
- It looks just like a robe of ritual purity turned inside out: the white snow that has fallen on the tips of the bamboo leaves.
- Commentary
-
Winter Poems 536
Headnote: "When the sacred dances on the return from the special Kamo festival were held at the Tsuchimikado Palace, on seeing snow fallen in the bamboo courtyard"
The headnote tells us this was composed when the sacred kagura dances on the return from the special Kamo festival were held at the Tsuchimikado Palace, on seeing snow fallen in the courtyard planted with bamboo. The white snow settled on the tips of the bamboo leaves, green and white mingling, is likened to the omi robe worn by those serving in Shinto rites, turned inside out. Suited to a sacred rite at court, the comparison draws on the costume of the kagura.
Following the preceding poem on garden bamboo bent flat by snow, this one tells of the beauty of snow on the tips of bamboo leaves, so the two poems are set side by side pairing bamboo and snow.
First line, “ura kaesu”: turned inside out, a robe with its lining turned outward.
Second line, “omi no koromo to”: omi no koromo is the white robe worn by those serving in Shinto rites, printed with a pattern in mountain indigo.
Third line, “miyuru kana”: kana is exclamatory, and the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “take no ureba ni”: ureba are the tips of leaves.
Fifth line, “fureru shirayuki”: ru is the attributive of the continuative ri, the snow lying there; the poem ends on a noun, setting what is compared last in inversion.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
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