Kinkai wakashū 629

Frost at a shrine.

さよ深けていなりの山の杉のはにしろくも霜のおきにけるかな

sayo fukete
inari no yama no
sugi no ha ni
shiroku mo shimo no
okinikeru kana
Brief night breaks
O’er Inari Mountain, and
The cedar needles
Turn white with frost
A’falling![i]

629


[i] See: Drinking vessels [mizunomi]. いなり山しるしのすぎの年ふりてみつのみやしろ神さびにけり inariyama / shirushi no sugi no / toshi furite / mitsu no miyashiro / kamisabinikeri ‘Mount Inari’s / Symbolic cedars / Carry years’ weight: / The three sacred shrines  / Are venerable, indeed!’ Bishop Yūkei (Senzaishū XVIII: 1178); and: On warblers on the road to the barrier, while at the Poetry Office. 鶯のなけどもいまだふる雪に杉の葉しろき逢坂の山 uguisu no / nakedomo imada / furu yuki ni / sugi no ha shiroki / ausaka no yama ‘The warbler / Has sung, yet still / Falling snow / Turns white the cedar needles / On the mount of Meeting Hill.’ The Senior Retired Emperor (Shinkokinshū I: 18)

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