Matsu no shita wa yuki furu ori no iro nare ya mina shirotae ni miyuru yamaji ni

松の下は雪降る折の色なれや
皆白妙に見ゆる山路に

Roma-ji: Matsu no shita wa yuki furu ori no iro nare ya mina shirotae ni miyuru yamaji ni
English Translation: Beneath the pine tree,
is this the color it keeps
when the snow comes down?
All along the mountain road
the world looks pure white.
Meaning: Is this the color that stays beneath the pines even when snow falls? All along the mountain path, everything looks pure white.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1360

Headnote: "When snow had fallen"
Composed when snow fell at his hut in Sanuki. Amid a mountain road that looks entirely white, is it only beneath the pine that the color stays unchanged in snowfall? the poet asks.
In a world of snow, only the evergreen pine and the ground beneath it keep their color. The pine before the hut, sung in the two preceding poems, shows its unchanging form in the snow. Poems on snow follow. In the source data this headnote stands at the preceding poem's position, but here it is taken as the headnote of this poem and those that follow.

First line, “matsu no shita wa”: beneath the pine; the line has an extra syllable.
Second line, “yuki furu ori no”: of the time when snow falls.
Third line, “iro nare ya”: ya questions, "is it that color?"; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “mina shirotae ni”: shirotae is pure white.
Fifth line, “miyuru yamaji ni”: on the mountain road that looks so, the inversion giving the setting of contrast.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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