Kinkai wakashū 664

Bamboo and Felicitations.

竹の葉にふりおほふ雪のうれをおもみしたにも千世の色はかくれず

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)

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