Hitori sumu katayamakage no tomo nare ya arashi ni haruru fuyu no yamazato

ひとり住む片山陰の友なれや
嵐に晴るる冬の山里

Roma-ji: Hitori sumu katayamakage no tomo nare ya arashi ni haruru fuyu no yamazato
English Translation: For one who dwells alone
in the shadow of the hillside
might it be a friend?
cleared and brightened by the storm,
the mountain village in winter.
Meaning: Could it be a friend to me, living alone in the shade of the hillside: the winter mountain village, swept clear and bright by the storm?
Commentary: Winter Poems 558

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten winter poems"
This is the second of the ten winter poems. It is understood to ask whether, for one living alone in the shade on one side of a mountain, the winter village swept clear by the storm that drives away the clouds may itself be a friend. In a lonely dwelling with no visitors, the poem shows a heart that takes the scenery as its companion.
It ends with the same line as 513 and 515, fuyu no yamazato, carrying on the heart of one dwelling alone in a mountain village in winter.

First line, “hitori sumu”: living alone, the poet himself in the mountain village.
Second line, “katayamakage no”: katayamakage is the shaded place on one side of a mountain, out of the sun.
Third line, “tomo nare ya”: nare ya is the perfective of the copula nari with the question particle ya, could it be because it is a friend; the poem breaks after the third line.
Fourth line, “arashi ni haruru”: cleared by the storm, the sky swept bright as the clouds are blown away.
Fifth line, “fuyu no yamazato”: the poem ends on a noun, the same last line as 513 and 515.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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