take no ha ni furi’ōu yuki no ure o omomi shita ni mo chiyo no iro wa kakurezu
The bamboo leaves Are covered with fallen snow, Tips so heavy, but Beneath, a thousand ages Hue cannot be concealed.[i]
664
[i] See: Topic unknown. ささのはにふりつむ雪のうれをおもみ本くだちゆくわがさかりはも sasa no ha ni / furitsumu yuki no / ure o omomi / moto kudachiyuku / wa ga sakari wa mo ‘The dwarf bamboo leave are / Piled with fallen snow, / Tips so heavy that / They droop down to the roots— / So, too, my prosperity!’ Anonymous (Kokinshū XVII: 891)
toshi tsumoru koshi no shirayama shirazu tomo kashira no yuki o aware to wa miyo
How years has it drifted upon The mountains white at Shirayama in Koshi I know not, but The snow above my brow, O, behold with pity![i]
636
[i] See: Composed at Hiroshi Marōdo Shrine, recalling a visit to Shirayama, when he was Governnor of Kaga. としふともこしの白山わすれずはかしらのゆきをあはれともみよ toshi futomo / koshi no shirayama / wasurezu wa / kashira no yuki o / aware tomo miyo ‘The years have passed, yet / The mountains white at Shirayama in Koshi / Never will I forget! So, / The snow above my brow, / O, behold with pity!’ Master of the Left Capital Office Akisuke (Shinkokinshū XIX: 1912)
yuki tsumoru waka no matsubara furinikeri ikuyo henuran tamatsushimamori
Snow has drifted between Waka’s pine groves[i]— Grown so ancient— How many ages have you passed, O, Warden of Tamatsu Isle[ii]?[iii]
632
[i] The ‘pine groves of Waka’ (waka no matsubara 和歌の松原) were located in Ise, but Sanetomo mistakenly associates them with Waka Bay (waka no ura 和歌浦) in Kii—hence his reference to Tamatsushima in the poem.
[ii] In this context, ‘Tamatsu Isle’ (Tamatsushima 玉津島) is understood as referring to Tamatsushima Shrine which is located near the coast in Wakayama. One of the deities venerated at this shrine is Sōtorihime-no-mikoto 衣通姫尊, one of the patron gods of waka poetry, which Sanetomo evokes with his reference the ‘pine groves of Waka’.
Composed and sent to the residence of the Superintendent Abbot of Tsurugaoka[i] on a morning when snow had fallen.
つるの岡あふぎてみれば峰の松梢はるかに雪ぞつもれる
tsuru no oka ōgite mireba mine no matsu kozue haruka ni yuki zo tsumoreru
When to the Hill of Cranes I lift up my gaze, On the peaks beyond, pine Treetops in the distance Are covered with drifted snow.
623
[i] Tsurugaoka Hachiman Shrine (Tsurugaoka hachimangū 鶴岡八幡宮) is located in Yukinoshita in Kamakura and venerated Hachiman, the deity of war and warriors as the patron of the Minamoto clan. The shrine thus was, and still is, one of the focal points of the city and where many of its most important festivals are held. It was also the location of Sanetomo’s assassination in 1219. The Superintendent Abbot (bettō sōzu 別当僧都) to whom Sanetomo sent this time was probably the shrine’s third, Teigyō 定暁 (dates unknown) (Higuchi 2016, 96).
