Iwashiro no musuberu matsu ni furu yuki wa haru mo tokezu ya aramu to suramu - Kinyo Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

岩代の結べる松に降る雪は
春も解けずやあらむとすらむ

Roma-ji: Iwashiro no musuberu matsu ni furu yuki wa haru mo tokezu ya aramu to suramu
English Translation: At Iwashiro
on the pine whose boughs are tied
the snow that's falling,
will it not melt even in spring,
is that what it intends
Meaning: Does the snow falling on the tied pine of Iwashiro mean to stay unmelted even when spring comes?
Commentary: Book Four Winter Poems 286

The poet wonders whether the snow piled on the tied pine at Iwashiro means to stay unmelted even into spring. Seeing the snow on the tied pine as bound together with its branches and so unable to come loose, the wit lies in matching musubu, to tie, with toku, to melt or untie.
The tied pine of Iwashiro is known from Prince Arima's poem in the Man'yōshū, in which he ties the branches of a beach pine at Iwashiro and vows to return to see them if fortune spares him.
Poems 277 through 293 in this book center on snow, with poems on falconry set among them at 281 through 283.

First line, 'iwashiro no', is a poetic place in Kii known for its tied pine.
Second line, 'musuberu matsu ni', means on the pine that is tied, from the custom of tying pine branches to pray for a safe journey.
Third line, 'furu yuki wa', means the snow that falls.
Fourth line, 'haru mo tokezu ya', means not melting even in spring, answering 'tied' in the second line, and ya binds with the attributive ramu in the final line.
Final line, 'aramu to suramu', means does it intend to stay so, closing with the present conjecture ramu.
Source: Kinyo Wakashu
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