青根山苔の筵の上に敷く
雪は白嶺の心地こそすれ
雪は白嶺の心地こそすれ
- Roma-ji
-
Aone yama koke no mushiro no ue ni shiku yuki wa Shirane no kokochi koso sure
- English Translation
-
On Mount Aone,
above the matting of the moss
the snow spreads its sheet,
and the snow there makes it seem
a peak of gleaming white.
- Meaning
- The snow spread over the matting of moss on Mount Aone, the Blue Peak, makes it feel like a white snow-capped summit.
- Commentary
-
Winter Poems 540
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When composing poems on snow"
This is the third of six poems on snow. On Mount Aone, thought to be the Aone peak of Yoshino, snow spreads over moss that grows like a mat, and the blue mountain seems a peak of white snow. The device sets the blue in the mountain's name against the white of shirane, showing the change of color wrought by snow through a place name.
Poem 528 and the next poem also end with kokochi koso sure, so poems likening snow to other things follow one another.
First line, “Aone yama”: Aone yama is thought to be the Aone peak of Yoshino; the blue in its name pairs with the white of shirane in the fourth line.
Second line, “koke no mushiro no”: mushiro is a mat woven of straw or rush, the moss spread like a mat.
Third line, “ue ni shiku”: shiku is to spread across, the snow spreading over the moss.
Fourth line, “yuki wa Shirane no”: shirane is a high peak white with snow, white set against the blue of Aone.
Fifth line, “kokochi koso sure”: koso is an emphatic particle binding with the perfective sure; it is the same last line as 528 and the next poem.
- Author
- Saigyō
- Source
- Sankashu
- Prev Poem
-
Yuki fureba noji mo yamaji mo uzumorete ochikochi shiranu tabi no sora kana
- Next Poem
-
Unohana no kokochi koso sure yamazato no kakine no shiba o uzumu shirayuki