Kurenai ni mieshi kozue mo yuki fureba shirayū kakuru kaminabi no mori - Shika Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

紅に見えし梢も雪降れば
白木綿かくる神奈備の森

Roma-ji: Kurenai ni mieshi kozue mo yuki fureba shirayū kakuru kaminabi no mori
English Translation: Even treetops seen
crimson with their autumn leaves,
now that snow has fallen,
are hung with strands of white bark cloth—
the sacred Kaminabi wood.
Meaning: The treetops that once glowed crimson, now that snow has fallen, seem hung with white sacred cloth in the holy wood of Kaminabi.
Commentary: Book Four Winter Poems 157

Headnote: "Composed when the New Retired Emperor, while still on the throne, had poems composed on the topic “A Distant View in Snow.”"
Composed when the New Retired Emperor, Sutoku, had poems written on “A Distant View in Snow” during his reign. The treetops of the sacred Kaminabi wood, crimson in autumn, now covered with snow, look like white bark-cloth offerings hung before the gods, and the shift from red to white is captured with a figure fitting a holy place.

First line, “kurenai ni”: the crimson of autumn leaves, in vivid contrast with the white bark cloth of the fourth line.
Second line, “mieshi kozue mo”: past “shi” recalls the treetops once in color. Where 142 regretted the leaves on the treetops, here the treetops turn white with snow.
Third line, “yuki fureba”: “when snow falls,” the moment that transforms the scene.
Fourth line, “shirayū kakuru”: “hung with white bark cloth,” likening the snow-laden boughs to the cloth used in Shinto rites, a figure apt for a sacred wood.
Fifth line, “kaminabi no mori”: the wood where a god dwells, closing the poem on a noun.
Author: Fujiwara no Tadamichi
Source: Shika Wakashu
Prev Poem: Okuyama no iwakaki momiji chirihatete kuchiba ga ue ni yuki zo tsumoreru
Next Poem: Matsu hito no ima mo kitaraba ikaga semu fumamaku oshiki niwa no yuki kana