卯の花の青葉も見えず咲きぬれば
雪ぞ花のみかはるなりけり
雪ぞ花のみかはるなりけり
- Roma-ji
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U no hana no aoba mo miezu sakinureba yuki zo hana nomi kawaru narikeri
- English Translation
-
Deutzia blossoms
so thick that no green leaves show
have come into bloom,
they are snow, and that they are flowers
is all that sets them apart
- Meaning
- The deutzia has bloomed so thickly that not a green leaf can be seen; it is snow itself, differing only in being flowers.
- Commentary
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Book Eleven Variant Poems 672
The deutzia has bloomed so thickly that no green leaves can be seen, and so it is snow itself, differing from snow only in being flowers. The conceit of seeing deutzia as snow is heightened by a blooming so profuse that it hides every leaf.
This poem is found only in a variant manuscript line of the anthology; in the variant order it follows the preceding poem, 671, after 103 in Book Two. Poem 100 in Book Two also mistakes deutzia for snow.
First line, 'u no hana no', means the deutzia.
Second line, 'aoba mo miezu', means so that no green leaves show, describing flowers blooming over everything.
Third line, 'sakinureba', means since they have bloomed, the realis of the perfective nu with ba expressing a reason.
Fourth line, 'yuki zo hana nomi', means it is snow, and only in being flowers, the particle zo adding emphasis. The deutzia is seen as snow.
Final line, 'kawaru narikeri', means do they differ, the copula nari followed by the exclamatory keri.
- Source
- Kinyo Wakashu
- Prev Poem
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U no hana o Otonashigawa no nami ka tote netaku mo orade suginakeru kana
- Next Poem
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Inariyama tazune ya mimashi hototogisu matsu ni shirushi no naki to omoeba