神垣の御室の山に霜降れば
木綿四手かけぬ榊葉ぞなき
木綿四手かけぬ榊葉ぞなき
- Roma-ji
-
Kamigaki no mimuro no yama ni shimo fureba yūshide kakenu sakakiba zo naki
- English Translation
-
On Mimuro's hill
within the sacred fences
when the frost comes down,
not a single sakaki leaf
is without white offering strands
- Meaning
- When frost falls on the hill of Mimuro within the sacred fence, there is not a single sakaki leaf that does not seem hung with white offering strands.
- Commentary
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Book Four Winter Poems 295
When frost falls on the sacred hill of Mimuro, the sakaki leaves turn white, so that every leaf seems hung with yūshide, the white offerings to the gods. Likening the whiteness of the frost to these offerings, the poem draws the winter scene of a sacred precinct in a way fitting for the rites.
Like the preceding poem, 294, it sings of sakaki leaves, the two forming a pair on sacred rites. From the kagura dance of the preceding poem, this poem turns to the frost-covered sakaki of a sacred hill.
The author, Morotoki, is Minamoto no Morotoki. A son of the Minister of the Left Minamoto no Toshifusa, he rose to Provisional Middle Counselor. He is known as the author of the diary Chōshūki and was one of the poets of the Horikawa Hundred-Poem Sequences.
First line, 'kamigaki no', means of the sacred fence, a pillow word attached to Mimuro.
Second line, 'mimuro no yama ni', is the hill where the gods dwell, the same name as 'Mount Mimuro' in poem 263 and 'the mountain of Mimuro' in poem 266 in this book.
Third line, 'shimo fureba', means when frost falls, a definite condition.
Fourth line, 'yūshide kakenu', means without white offering strands hung on it, likening the frost-whitened leaves to yūshide.
Final line, 'sakakiba zo naki', means there is no sakaki leaf, zo binding with the attributive naki, and it takes up the first line 'sakaki leaves' of the preceding poem, 294.
- Author
- Minamoto no Morotoki
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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Sakakiba ya tachimau sode no oikaze ni nabikanu kami wa araji to zo omou
- Next Poem
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Tsunaganedo nagare mo yukazu takasebune musubu kōri no tokenu kagiri wa