Okuyama no iwane ni ouru suga no ne no korokoro ni fureru shirayuki

奥山の岩根に生ふる菅の根の
ころころに降れる白雪

Roma-ji: Okuyama no iwane ni ouru suga no ne no korokoro ni fureru shirayuki
English Translation: Deep in the mountains
growing on the rocky ledge
like the roots of sedge,
close and thick, without a gap,
the white snow has fallen.
Meaning: Like the roots of sedge that grow upon the rocks deep in the mountains, the white snow has fallen thick and close, leaving no gap.
Commentary: Winter Poems 361

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Snow"
The poem sings of white snow lying thick and close like the roots of the sedge that grows clinging to the great rocks deep in the mountains. Drawing on the Man'yōshū phrase in which "the roots of sedge" leads to nemokoro, "closely, earnestly," the poet portrays snow in the deep mountains in an archaic tone.
Kamo no Mabuchi marked it with a circle. In the source text the lower lines have twelve syllables, line 4 falling two short at five. The source adds the variant mo beside the final no of line 3, but this edition follows the source text.

Line 1 means "in the deep mountains."
Line 2 means "growing with roots on the great rocks."
Line 3 means "like the roots of sedge," and the upper lines up to here act as a preface leading to line 4. In the Man'yōshū, suga no ne no is used to lead to nemokoro.
Line 4 is two syllables short at five, and seems to mean "closely, leaving no gap." Together with ne no in line 3 it carries the sound of nemokoro.
Line 5 ends on a noun, giving last, through ru, the attributive of the continuative ri, the snow that has fallen and lies.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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