み冬つき春し来ぬれば青柳の
葛城山に霞たなびく
葛城山に霞たなびく
- Roma-ji
-
Mifuyu tsuki haru shi kinureba aoyagi no katsuragiyama ni kasumi tanabiku
- English Translation
-
Winter has run out
and springtime has come at last;
green as willow wreaths,
on Katsuragi Mountain
the haze is trailing softly.
- Meaning
- Winter has ended and spring has come at last—over Mount Katsuragi the haze lies trailing.
- Commentary
-
Spring Poems 11
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Haze"
The poet shows that winter has ended and spring has come through the haze trailing over Mount Katsuragi. Layering Man'yō-style phrases such as mifuyu tsuki and haru shi kinureba, he sings of the change of seasons with dignity. Kamo no Mabuchi marked it with a circle, wondering whether linking the mere pillow word aoyagi no to a spring scene follows later fashion, but adding that otherwise it is a fine poem.
This poem was included in the Shinchokusen Wakashū. Book Seventeen of the Man'yōshū contains a poem beginning "Winter has passed and spring has come," and the opening phrase follows that lineage.
Line 1: mi is an honorific prefix, and the line means "winter having run out."
Line 2: shi is an emphatic particle, stressing that spring has truly come.
Line 3: aoyagi no ("green willow") is a pillow word for Katsuragi, since willow sprigs were worn as hair wreaths (kazura). Mabuchi considered pairing this pillow word with a spring scene a later style.
Line 4: Mount Katsuragi stands on the border of Yamato and Kawachi, and appears again in 52 as a place famed for cherry blossoms.
Line 5, "the haze is trailing," repeats the closing of 2, again confirming spring through haze. Where the preceding poem, 10, sang of the hills on every side, this one focuses on a single mountain.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
- Prev Poem
-
Ōkata ni haru no kinureba harugasumi yomo no yamabe ni tachimichinikeri
- Next Poem
-
Oshinabete haru wa kinikeri tsukubane no ko no moto goto ni kasumi tanabiku