みさご居る磯辺に立てるむろの木の
枝もとををに雪ぞ積もれる
枝もとををに雪ぞ積もれる
- Roma-ji
-
Misago iru isobe ni tateru muro no ki no eda mo tōo ni yuki zo tsumoreru
- English Translation
-
Where the ospreys perch
on the rocky shore there stands
a juniper tree,
its branches bending low
beneath the piled-up snow.
- Meaning
- On the rocky shore where ospreys perch stands a juniper tree, its branches bowed low under the weight of piled-up snow.
- Commentary
-
Winter Poems 360
Headnote: "Snow"
This poem was composed on the theme of snow. On the rocky shore where ospreys perch, snow lies so thick that the branches of the juniper tree there bend under it. Using birds, trees, and words found in the Man'yōshū, the poet portrays a snowy seashore in an archaic tone. From this poem the snow poems follow one after another.
The Ruijū text gives the headnote as "A winter poem." Kamo no Mabuchi marked it with a circle.
Line 1 means "where ospreys perch," the osprey being a kind of hawk that lives by the sea.
Line 2: ru is the attributive of the continuative ri, "standing on the rocky shore."
Line 3 names the muro tree, an evergreen juniper growing by the shore, also sung in the Man'yōshū.
Line 4: tōo ni means "bending under the weight," a word found in the Man'yōshū.
Line 5 concludes the binding particle zo with ru, the attributive of the continuative ri.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
- Prev Poem
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Naniwagata shiohi ni tateru ashitazu no hane shirotae ni yuki zo furitsutsu
- Next Poem
-
Okuyama no iwane ni ouru suga no ne no korokoro ni fureru shirayuki