白山のふりて積もれる雪なれば
下こそ消ゆれ上はつれなし
下こそ消ゆれ上はつれなし
- Roma-ji
-
Shirayama no furite tsumoreru yuki nareba shita koso kiyure ue wa tsurenashi
- English Translation
-
On Shirayama
the snows have long lain falling,
piled up through the years;
beneath, indeed, they melt away,
but on the surface stay unmoved.
- Meaning
- The snow on Shirayama has fallen and piled up through the years; beneath, it melts away, but on the surface it stays cold and unmoved.
- Commentary
-
Love Poems 468
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Composed on the theme of love at famous places"
As the snow piled for years on Shirayama in Kaga may melt from below while its surface stays white, so the poet may be wasting away within while showing an unmoved face.
The base text glosses line 4 with kienu. Here the base text is followed.
Line 1 names Shirayama, a poetic mountain in Kaga.
Line 2 plays on furu, "to fall" of snow and "to grow old," meaning "piled up long."
Line 3 means "since it is snow," pairing the snow of Shirayama with the smoke of Fuji in the preceding poem.
Line 4: koso is concluded by the evaluative kiyure, turning adversative; snow melting from below and a heart fading within overlap.
Line 5 means "the surface is unmoved." Against "burning beneath" in the preceding poem, it sings of snow melting within.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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