Wakete yuku yamaji no yuki wa fukaku to mo toku tachikaere toshi ni taguete

分けて行く山路の雪は深くとも
とくたちかへれ年にたぐへて

Roma-ji: Wakete yuku yamaji no yuki wa fukaku to mo toku tachikaere toshi ni taguete
English Translation: However deep it lies,
the snow on the mountain path
that you part and walk—
come back, return to us soon,
together with the new year.
Meaning: However deep the snow on the mountain path you push through, come back to us soon, returning together with the turning year.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1058

Headnote: "Reply"
This is the reply of the Master of the Empress's Household to Saigyō's answer. However deep the snow on the mountain path, he urges, come back to the capital soon, together with the turning of the year.
Taking up Saigyō's "will it be when the year turns," he wittily answers that as the year returns, so should Saigyō. 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, “wakete yuku”: going and pushing through, answering "yuki wakete" in the preceding poem.
Second line, “yamaji no yuki wa”: the snow on the mountain road to Kōya.
Third line, “fukaku to mo”: to mo is a concessive supposition, "even if it is deep."
Fourth line, “toku tachikaere”: tachi pivots on the new year "arising" and a person "rising to return"; a command, come back soon.
Fifth line, “toshi ni taguete”: accompanying the year, answering "toshi kaerite" in the preceding poem.
Author: Chūgū no Daibu (Master of the Empress's Household)
Source: Sankashu
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