若菜摘む衣手濡れて片岡の
あしたの原に淡雪ぞ降る
あしたの原に淡雪ぞ降る
- Roma-ji
-
Wakana tsumu koromode nurete kataoka no ashita no hara ni awayuki zo furu
- English Translation
-
Gathering young greens,
my sleeves are wet through and through;
on Kataoka's
Field of Morning, soft and light,
the spring snow is falling down.
- Meaning
- As I gather young greens my sleeves grow wet—on the Field of Morning at Kataoka, a light snow is falling.
- Commentary
-
Spring Poems 17
Headnote: "Young greens in the snow"
The poet portrays an early-spring scene in which a light snow begins to fall and wets his sleeves as he gathers young greens on the Field of Morning at Kataoka. He brings together in one scene the joy of gathering greens and the lingering snow of winter. Kamo no Mabuchi marked it with a circle.
In the Ruijū text the headnote reads "On the theme of young greens in the snow," and the fourth line differs. Snow falling on sleeves while gathering greens recalls Emperor Kōkō's Kokinshū poem in which snow keeps falling on his sleeves as he gathers greens for someone dear.
Line 1, "Gathering young greens," names the spring outing that was eagerly awaited in 6.
Line 2: koromode means sleeves, here wet with snow.
Line 3: Kataoka is a place in Yamato known as a poetic site.
Line 4: Ashita no Hara is a field at Kataoka; the name also suggests "morning," evoking an early hour.
Line 5: zo with the attributive form makes a kakarimusubi. Where 6 sang of snow burying the field of greens, here a light snow falls on the gatherer's sleeves, a contrast in the amount of snow.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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