Isogazu wa yuki ni waga mi ya tomerarete yamabe no sato ni tera o matamashi

急がずは雪に我が身や留められて
山辺の里に寺を待たまし

Roma-ji: Isogazu wa yuki ni waga mi ya tomerarete yamabe no sato ni tera o matamashi
English Translation: Had I not hurried,
would this body of mine be held
by the falling snow,
and there in a mountain village
for the temple I'd have waited?
Meaning: Had I not been in a hurry, I would have been held fast by the snow and waited for the temple in a village by the mountains.
Commentary: One Hundred Poems 1484

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Ten Poems on Snow"
The second of the ten poems on snow. Had he not been in a hurry, the snow would have held him back, and he would have stayed on in a village by the mountains.
It imagines, from one hurrying on a journey, life in a mountain village shut in by snow. Where the preceding poem would keep the snow untrodden, this one sings of a body held back by snow. The fifth line of the text reads tera o matamashi, "would have waited for the temple," which does not match the reading line's haru o matamashi; by the reading line it would mean "would have waited for spring," but the text is followed here.

First line, “isogazu wa”: zu wa is a negative hypothetical, "had I not hurried."
Second line, “yuki ni waga mi ya”: ya is a binding particle answered by mashi in the fifth line.
Third line, “tomerarete”: re is passive, "held back."
Fourth line, “yamabe no sato ni”: in a village by the mountains.
Fifth line, “tera o matamashi”: mashi is counterfactual, "would have waited," answering ya in the second line.
Author: Saigyō
Source: Sankashu
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