逢坂の関の山路越えわびぬ
昨日も今日も雪し積もれば
昨日も今日も雪し積もれば
- Roma-ji
-
Ōsaka no seki no yamaji koewabinu kinō mo kyō mo yuki shi tsumoreba
- English Translation
-
At Ōsaka's barrier
the mountain road beats me now,
I cannot cross it,
for yesterday and today
the snow has piled up deep.
- Meaning
- I cannot manage to cross the mountain road at the Ōsaka barrier, for yesterday and today the snow has kept on piling up.
- Commentary
-
Miscellaneous Poems 583
Headnote continued from the preceding poem: "Snow on a journey"
The poet cannot cross the mountain road at the Ōsaka barrier, for snow has fallen and piled up day after day. At the barrier between the capital and the east, it depicts the frustration of a traveller held back by snow.
The Ruijū text places it in its travel section.
Line 1 names Ōsaka on the border of Yamashiro and Ōmi, an ancient poetic place.
Line 2 means "the mountain road of the barrier."
Line 3 means "I cannot manage to cross," with a break after the line; wabu after a verb means to find it hard to do.
Line 4 means "yesterday and today," showing the snow continuing.
Line 5 means "since the snow has piled," shi emphatic; inversion places the reason last. The next poem, 584, also sings of crossing a snowy mountain road.
- Author
- Minamoto no Sanetomo
- Source
- Kinkaishu
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