Is it for the grief
of blossoms falling away
that it sounds so?
In spring haze on Tatsuta Mountain,
the warbler’s voice is heard.

Meaning

Is it that the falling of blossoms is so sorrowful? In the spring haze over Mount Tatsuta, the warbler’s song seems to lament it.

Commentary

Book II, Spring Poems (Part Two)

A poem composed at a poetry contest held at the residence of the Ninna Middle Captain’s consort.

Because the poet feels sorrow at the scattering blossoms, the warbler’s song too is heard as if lamenting.

Tatsuta Mountain lies west of present-day Sangō in Ikoma District, Nara, and is famed for its autumn leaves.

Author

Fujiwara no Chikage

Source

Kokin Wakashu

Other

Blame, with your cry, the wind that blows— O warbler; for have I so much as laid a hand upon the blossoms?
If falling blossoms could be stayed by weeping, then surely I would not yield to the warbler’s cry.
As it flits from branch to branch, by its own wing-wind blossoms fall away; whom does it blame, I wonder, that it cries out so?
To no avail, it cries out again and again— the warbler’s voice; for these blossoms do not fall only in this one year.

Is it for the grief of blossoms falling away that it sounds so? In spring haze on Tatsuta Mountain, the warbler’s voice is heard.

Is it for the grief
of blossoms falling away
that it sounds so?
In spring haze on Tatsuta Mountain,
the warbler’s voice is heard.