shirotae no namiji wakete ya haru wa kuru kaze fuku kara ni hana mo sakinikeri
White as mulberry cloth are The wave-wakes: forging through them does Spring come? The wind blows so, The blossom has bloomed!
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[1] Makimoku 巻目 was an alternate name for Makimuku 纏向, a place in Yamato province which was traditionally believed to be the location of the state’s capital during the reigns of the legendary emperors Suinin 垂仁 and Keikō 景行.
[2]Shinsen man’yōshū 17/An almost identical poem is also included in Kokin rokujo (I: 619), while a minor variant occurs in Fubokushō (IV: 1100), with a headnote identifying it as being included in this contest: まきもくのひばらの山にたちかへり見れども花におどろかれつつ makimoku no / hibara no yama ni / tachikaeri / miredomo hana no / odorokaretsutsu ‘In Makimoku among / The mountain cypress groves / Rising and departing, / I see it, yet the blossom / Ever does amaze me…’
[2] A minor variant of the poem, with a headnote associating it with this contest, and attributed to Ki no Tomonori, appears in Shokusenzaishū (I: 62): 春雨の色はこしともみえなくに野べのみどりをいかでそむらん harusame no / iro wa koshi tomo / mienaku ni / nobe no midori o / ikade somuran ‘The spring rain’s / Hue no great depths / Does seem to have, but / How are the meadows with green / So deeply dyed?’
On the day when the following day would mark the beginning of spring, he saw the snow being blown by the wind from the house next door, so he composed this and sent it over.
冬ながら春の隣のちかければなかがきよりぞ花はちりける
Fuyu nagara Faru no tonari no tikakereba nakagaki yori zo Fana wa tirikeru
‘Tis winter, yet Spring as a neighbour Lies so close, so From the fence between Blossom has scattered.