Yuki tsumite ki mo wakazu saku hana nare ya tokiwa no matsu mo miene narikeri

雪積みて木も分かず咲く花なれや
常磐の松も見えねなりけり

Roma-ji: Yuki tsumite ki mo wakazu saku hana nare ya tokiwa no matsu mo miene narikeri
English Translation: With snow heaped upon them,
are these flowers that bloom alike
on every tree there is?
Even the evergreen pine
can no longer be seen.
Meaning: Heaped with snow, are these blossoms that bloom on every tree alike? Even the evergreen pine can no longer be seen.
Commentary: Miscellaneous Poems 1361

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "When snow had fallen"
With snow heaped on them, are these flowers blooming alike on every tree? Even the evergreen pine can no longer be seen, the poet says.
Seeing snow on the trees as blossoms that bloom without regard to kind, he says even the evergreen pine has vanished. Where the preceding poem said that color remained beneath the pine, here even the pine is buried, showing the snow deepening.

First line, “yuki tsumite”: snow piling up.
Second line, “ki mo wakazu saku”: blooming without distinguishing trees; the line has an extra syllable.
Third line, “hana nare ya”: ya questions, "are they flowers?"; the poem breaks here.
Fourth line, “tokiwa no matsu mo”: even the evergreen pine.
Fifth line, “miene narikeri”: both the text and the reading line have miene, taken as mienu, "it cannot be seen."
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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