やどちかく梅の花うゑじあぢきなく
まつ人のかにあやまれけり
まつ人のかにあやまれけり
- Roma-ji
-
Yado chikaku ume no hana ueji ajikinaku
matsu hito no ka ni ayamarekeri - English Translation
-
Near my dwelling,
I would not plant plum blossoms—
how pointless that would be;
for their scent is mistaken
for the sleeves of one I await.
- Meaning
- I would not plant plum blossoms near my dwelling; how pointless that would be, for their fragrance would only be mistaken for the scent of the sleeves of the one I wait for.
- Commentary
-
Spring Songs, Book One
The poet entrusts to the plum’s fragrance both an affection for the scent and the longing felt while waiting for a lover whose visits have grown infrequent.
- Author
- Unknown Poet
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- When I plucked them, my sleeves are what now smell— plum blossoms’ scent; thinking blossoms are here, the warbler sings nearby.
- More than its color, its fragrance moves the heart— so deeply it feels; whose sleeves once brushed this lodge’s plum to leave such scent behind?
- The plum blossoms said to be sewn on the warbler’s hat— I will break them off and set them in my hair, thinking they may hide my age.
- Only from afar had I felt their deep beauty— these plum blossoms; their color I never tire of I knew only when I broke them off.