Aratama no toshi no hajime ni furishikeba hatsuyuki to koso iubekari kere - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

あらたまの年のはじめに降りしけば
初雪とこそいふべかりけれ

Roma-ji: Aratama no toshi no hajime ni furishikeba hatsuyuki to koso iubekari kere
English Translation: As the jewel new,
at the beginning of the year
it has fallen deep;
truly this the first snowfall
is what we ought to call it
Meaning: Since it has fallen and spread like this at the very beginning of the new year, this is what we ought to call the first snow.
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems 7

Snow that has fallen with the coming of spring at the start of the year is playfully claimed as the true first snow, since it is the first of the new year. The wit lies in giving the name not to winter's first snow but to the first snow of the year.
The next poem, 8, is Fujiwara no Kinzane's reply: where Akisue calls the snow first snow, Kinzane proposes to call the snow on the branches first flowers.
The author, Akisue, is Fujiwara no Akisue. A son of Fujiwara no Takatsune, he was trusted as a close retainer of Emperor Shirakawa because his mother had been the emperor's wet nurse, and he rose to Master of the Office of Palace Repairs. He founded the Rokujō Fujiwara house of poetry.

First line, 'aratama no', is a pillow word for 'year'.
Second line, 'toshi no hajime ni', is the beginning of the new year, a time that coincides with the turn of spring.
Third line, 'furishikeba', means since it has fallen and spread; shiku is a verb meaning to spread over the ground.
Fourth line, 'hatsuyuki to koso', uses the particle koso, which closes on the perfective kere in the final line. The wit lies in reinterpreting winter's first snow as the first snow of the year.
Final line, 'iubekari kere', means we ought to have said, expressing a fresh realization. It answers 'should we call them' in the final line of poem 8, completing the form of an exchange.
Author: Fujiwara no Akisue
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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