Hyakunin Isshu: Meet the Poets
Ōshikōchi no Mitsune

Meaning

Shall I pick it or not? The white chrysanthemum lies hidden beneath the first frost, and I cannot tell them apart.

Commentary

This is a poem of delightful visual confusion. On a morning when frost has settled across the garden, the white chrysanthemums and the white frost look so similar that the poet cannot tell them apart at a glance. Rather than being frustrated, the speaker turns this into a playful game — reaching for a chrysanthemum by guesswork alone.

Ōshikōchi no Mitsune was one of the four great poets commissioned to compile the Kokinshū. He was especially celebrated for the refined elegance of his nature poetry, and this poem demonstrates his gift for transforming a small, precise moment of seasonal observation into something both charming and memorable.

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