Asamidori kasumeru sora no keshiki ni ya tokiwa no yama wa haru o shiruramu - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

浅緑霞める空のけしきにや
常磐の山は春を知るらむ

Roma-ji: Asamidori kasumeru sora no keshiki ni ya tokiwa no yama wa haru o shiruramu
English Translation: By the pale green tint
of the sky now veiled in haze,
is it by that sight
that Tokiwa's changeless hill
comes to know that spring is here
Meaning: Is it by the look of the sky, hazy and pale green, that Mount Tokiwa, whose color never changes, comes to know that spring has arrived?
Commentary: Book One Spring Poems 9

Mount Tokiwa, whose color never changes through the seasons, cannot tell spring by its own appearance, so the poet guesses that it learns of spring from the hazy sky. It is an intellectual conceit built on the name Tokiwa, evergreen.

First line, 'asamidori', is a pale green, the tint of spring haze.
Second line, 'kasumeru sora no', is the sky veiled in haze, sung as a sign of spring.
Third line, 'keshiki ni ya', uses keshiki, appearance, with ya forming a question.
Fourth line, 'tokiwa no yama wa', is a famous place in Yamashiro, sung as a mountain that never changes, true to its name.
Final line, 'haru o shiruramu', uses ramu to guess at the cause, wondering how a changeless mountain knows that spring has come.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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