Yuki wakete fukaki yamaji ni komorinaba toshi kaerite ya kimi ni au beki

雪分けて深き山路にこもりなば
年かへりてや君に逢ふべき

Roma-ji: Yuki wakete fukaki yamaji ni komorinaba toshi kaerite ya kimi ni au beki
English Translation: If I part the snow
and shut myself away on
a deep mountain path,
will it be when the year turns
that I come to meet you again?
Meaning: If I push through the snow and shut myself away on the deep mountain path, will it be only after the year has turned that I can see you again?
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1057

Headnote: "Around the time when the snow was so deep that one could barely make out the road, the Master of the Empress's Household, hearing I was going to Kōya, wrote asking, 'Why set out in such snow? When will you come back to the capital?' and I sent this in reply"
When the snow lay so deep that the road could hardly be traced, the Master of the Empress's Household heard that Saigyō was going to Kōya and asked why he would set out in such snow and when he would return to the capital. Saigyō answers that if he pushes through the snow into the deep mountains, it will likely not be until the new year that they meet again.
Overlaying the depth of the snow with the depth of the mountains, the poem quietly conveys both his resolve to withdraw and his gratitude for his friend's concern. There is no settled view as to whom "Master of the Empress's Household" refers; the title designates the head of the empress's household office.

First line, “yuki wakete”: pushing through the snow.
Second line, “fukaki yamaji ni”: fukaki suggests both deep snow and the depth of the mountains.
Third line, “komorinaba”: naba is the perfective nu with ba, "if I have shut myself away."
Fourth line, “toshi kaerite ya”: ya is a questioning particle answered by the attributive in the fifth line; toshi kaeru is the turning of the year.
Fifth line, “kimi ni au beki”: closing the ya construction, "shall I meet you then?"
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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