Miyama ni wa shirayuki fureri shigaraki no maki no somabito michi tadoru rashi

深山には白雪降れり信楽の
真木の杣人道たどるらし

Roma-ji: Miyama ni wa shirayuki fureri shigaraki no maki no somabito michi tadoru rashi
English Translation: Deep in the mountains
the white snow has fallen now;
at Shigaraki
the woodsmen felling cedars
must be groping for the path.
Meaning: White snow has fallen deep in the mountains; the woodsmen who fell the fine timber at Shigaraki must be groping their way along the path.
Commentary: Winter Poems 369

Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Snow"
Seeing that white snow has fallen in the deep mountains, the poet imagines the woodsmen who cut timber at Shigaraki groping for a path buried in snow. He turns his heart toward the hardship of those who work in the snowy mountains.
This poem was included in the Fūga Wakashū, where line 5 reads michi tadoruran. Kamo no Mabuchi marked it with a circle and commented that writing miyama with the characters for "deep mountain" is a vulgar practice of later times.

Line 1 means "in the deep mountains."
Line 2: ri is the continuative auxiliary, declaring that white snow lies fallen, and the poem pauses here.
Line 3 names Shigaraki in Ōmi, known for its timber forests.
Line 4 is the woodsmen who cut fine timber such as cedar and cypress.
Line 5: rashi is a conjecture based on evidence, inferring from the snowy mountains that the woodsmen are groping for their path.
Author: Minamoto no Sanetomo
Source: Kinkaishu
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