春の日ののどけき空に降る雪は
風に乱るる花にぞありける
風に乱るる花にぞありける
- Roma-ji
-
Haru no hi no nodokeki sora ni furu yuki wa kaze ni midaruru hana ni zo arikeru
- English Translation
-
On a day in spring,
falling from the tranquil sky,
the snow that I see
is the blossoms in the wind,
scattered in their disarray
- Meaning
- The snow falling from the calm sky of a spring day turns out to be blossoms tossed and scattered by the wind.
- Commentary
-
Book Eleven Variant Poems 668
What seemed to be snow falling from the calm sky of a spring day was in fact cherry blossoms scattered and tossed by the wind. The poem expresses the conceit of seeing falling blossoms as snow through the pairing of a tranquil spring sky with flowers thrown into disorder by the wind.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant order it is placed after 56 in Book One. Poem 56 compares drifting clouds over blossoms seen at night with the cruelty of the wind, and 57 in Book One, which follows, sings of a storm that lures the blossoms away, so poems on wind and falling flowers continue.
The author, Nakamasa, is Minamoto no Nakamasa, a son of Minamoto no Yoritsuna, who became Head of the Arsenal Office. He was the father of Minamoto no Yorimasa.
First line, 'haru no hi no', means of a spring day.
Second line, 'nodokeki sora ni', means in the tranquil sky, set against the wind that tosses the blossoms.
Third line, 'furu yuki wa', means the falling snow, seeing the falling blossoms as snow.
Fourth line, 'kaze ni midaruru', means scattered by the wind. Like kaze no tsurasa ni in the fourth line of 56 in Book One, it sings of the wind that scatters the flowers.
Final line, 'hana ni zo arikeru', means is really blossoms, the particle zo answered by keru, the attributive of the exclamatory keri.
- Author
- Minamoto no Nakamasa
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
-
Yamazakura kozue no kaze no samukereba hana no sakari ni nari zo wazurau
- Next Poem
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Shirakumo to mine ni wa miete sakurabana chireba fumoto no yuki to koso mire