春来ては花とか見えむおのづから
くちきの杣に降れる白雪
くちきの杣に降れる白雪
- Roma-ji
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Haru kite wa hana to ka miemu onozukara kuchiki no soma ni fureru shirayuki
- English Translation
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Now that spring is here,
will they look like blossoms, then—
by chance it happened
on the timber hills of Kuchiki,
this fallen snow so white.
- Meaning
- Now that spring has come, will it look like blossoms—the white snow that by chance has fallen on the timber hills of Kuchiki, the hills of rotten trees?
- Commentary
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Spring Poems 20
Headnote: "Lingering snow"
The poet wonders whether the white snow still lying on the timber hills of Kuchiki will be taken for blossoms now that spring has come. It is a witty poem likening to flowers the snow on decaying trees that could never bloom. Kamo no Mabuchi said the second line should read "will they see them as blossoms," since "will they look like" makes it read as a winter poem, and added that pairing rotten trees with blossoms marks an early work.
This poem was included in the Shinchokusen Wakashū. The Ruijū text places it among the miscellaneous poems, and the Teika text and the Shinchokusen read the second line hana to ka miramu.
Line 1, "Now that spring is here," fixes the season of the topic, lingering snow.
Line 2: the particle ka and the attributive of mu make a kakarimusubi, and the poem pauses here.
Line 3: onozukara means by chance.
Line 4: kuchiki is a pivot word joining the place name Kuchiki in Ōmi with "rotten trees," and soma are hills where timber is cut. The word also resonates with "rotten plum tree" in the next poem, 21.
Line 5 ends on a noun and stands in inversion with the upper verse. After the light snow of 17, it again sings of spring snow.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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Matsu no ha no shiroki o mireba kasugayama ko no me mo haru no yuki zo furikeru
- Next Poem
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Furudera no kuchiki no ume mo harusame ni sobochite hana mo hokorobinikeri