KKS 9
Text
雪の降りけるをよめる
霞たちこのめもはるの雪ふれば花なきさとも花ぞちりける
Translation
Composed on falling snow
The mist rises, / the buds come forth / when spring snow falls / even villages without flowers / have flowers falling.
Explanation
The early spring poems continue with the connection between white snow and the coming plum blossoms. The first two lines are a jo (poetic preface) based on a play on haru meaning both "bud" and "spring".
Detailed Notes
- このめはる
- This is a kakekotoba or a preface leading into はる (spring). The buds (木の芽) grow forth (張る). This is a possible etymology for the word 春 itself. The preface uses spring imagery to enhance the feeling of the spring snow.
Analysis
A common technique of the early KKS poems is to first introduce spring imagery by its absence. The first introduction of the spring mist is in Poem 3, in the context of the poet not knowing where it is. Poem 4 introduces the warbler by its absence. The main focus of this poem is the same confusion of flowers and snow that is found in several other poems, but Tsurayuki's construction is somewhat different. Fujiwara no Norinaga noted that Tsurayuki often pairs images that are there (snow, in this case) with images that are not really there (the flowers, in this case). Norinaga found this technique so excellent that he declared Tsurayuki was fit to be placed alongside Hitomaro -- a declaration that shows the high respect Tsurayuki garnered by the 12th century. Teika also included the poem in his Teika hachidaisho.
Sogi found in this poem an expression of the ruler's beneficence, but snow would not be a common expression of that theme. Katagiri noted how unusual it was that even Keichu said that this poem might have such a reading.
The first two lines are thought by most commentators to be a 序 (poetic preface), although one that contributes meaning to the poem. All modern commentators except Kaneko and Matsuda believe the mist is not actually there; it's just providing a spring image to begin the poem. Kaneko and Matsuda are also the only ones who says that the 里 is Tsurayuki's own garden or house.
Matsuda notes the close connection between poems 7-9: snow falls on branches, on the poet's head, and in a far off village, and in all three cases suggests something else that isn't there.
Takeoka points out the repeated use of short subject-predicate phrases, giving the poem a prose-like quality and a staccato rhythm.
Other sources
- 古今和歌六帖１９・残りの雪・貫之
- 拾玉集３４７５. This is in a collection of 100 poems based on KKS poems. Jien's poem is:
- あは雪のはななき里にうれしきはこのめも春のゆふ暮の空
- In the village with light snow and no flowers, what is joyful is the evening sky with buds coming forth.