Toshi wa haya tsukinami kakete koenikeri mube tsumi habeshi shiba no wakadachi

年ははや月並かけて越えにけり
むべ摘みはべし柴の若立ち

Roma-ji: Toshi wa haya tsukinami kakete koenikeri mube tsumi habeshi shiba no wakadachi
English Translation: The year has already
followed the round of the months
and crossed over now—
no wonder that they are picking
the young shoots of the brushwood.
Meaning: The year has already followed the round of months and crossed over into spring. No wonder, then, that they are out picking the young shoots of the brushwood.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1061

Headnote: "Seeing many people in the fields, I asked what they were doing, and they answered that they were gathering greens. Thinking, 'Are these the young greens that mark a spring come within the old year? So that is it,' I composed this"
Seeing many people in the fields, Saigyō asked what they were doing and was told they were picking greens; thinking these must be the young greens marking a spring arrived within the old year, he composed this. The year has already crossed over into spring with the passing months, and so people are gathering young shoots, he concludes.
The theme of spring arriving before the new year is confirmed through people picking greens in the fields; following the two preceding poems, which sought spring in haze, water, and rain, this one finds its sign in human activity.

First line, “toshi wa haya”: the year, already.
Second line, “tsukinami kakete”: following the order of the months, the passage of time.
Third line, “koenikeri”: nikeri marks completion and realization, "it has crossed over"; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “mube tsumi habeshi”: mube means "no wonder"; tsumi habeshi is hard to construe but is taken as "they would surely be picking."
Fifth line, “shiba no wakadachi”: young shoots sprouting from brushwood, ending on a noun; the young greens of the headnote are sung as shoots in the hills and fields.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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