Haru no yo no yami wa ayanashi ume no hana
iro koso miene ka ya wa kakururu

English Translation

In the spring night’s dark,
how pointless is the deep gloom—
plum blossoms:
though their color is not seen,
how could their scent be hidden?

Meaning

The darkness of a spring night is truly futile: in the dark the color of the plum blossoms cannot be seen, but how could their fragrance be hidden? It cannot be hidden.

Commentary

Spring Songs, Book One

A poem composed on a spring night, on plum blossoms.

This poem exaggerates the fragrance of plum blossoms.
Though their form is unseen, it calls to mind a lover whose only presence is the scented robes, their fragrance drifting through the dark.

Author

Oshikochi no Mitsune

Source

Kokin Wakashu

Other

In spring, when plum blossoms give forth their scent, Mount Kurabu— though I crossed it in the dark of night, clearly, there they were, I knew.
On a moonlit night, I could not tell which was which— plum blossoms, so by seeking out their scent, I came to know the way.
You—who knows? your heart I do not know; as for this old home, only the blossoms, as of old, still give forth their scent.
Each spring, the flowing stream I take for blossoms, and reaching for flowers that cannot be plucked, my sleeves are wet with water.

Haru no yo no yami wa ayanashi ume no hana iro koso miene ka ya wa kakururu

Haru no yo no yami wa ayanashi ume no hana
iro koso miene ka ya wa kakururu