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.
- Meaning
- I will break off the plum blossoms said to be sewn upon the warbler’s hat and set them in my hair, thinking they may hide my age.
- Commentary
-
Spring Songs, Book One
This poem was composed upon breaking off plum blossoms.
The conceit is formed by the Kagura song:
“Twisting green willow threads, the hat the warbler is said to sew is a hat of plum blossoms.”
- Author
- Minamoto no Tsune
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- 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?
- 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.
- 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.
- To whom but you should I show these plum blossoms— their color and scent; one who knows both the color and scent is the one who knows them.