mountain in winter; sleeping mountain
Poetic seasonal phrase (kigo) for winter, personifying a mountain as sleeping under snow or stillness. Often used in haiku and other poetry. Compare with 山笑う (spring mountain) and other seasonal mountain expressions.
See also: 山笑う
The winter kigo 'yama nemuru' evokes the quiet figure of a mountain covered in snow.
The winter seasonal expression ultimately reflects the description 冬山惨淡として睡るが如し, “winter mountains are bleak as though sleeping,” associated with the Chinese painter and theorist 郭熙.