あづさゆみはるの山辺をこえくれば
道もさりあへず花ぞちりける
道もさりあへず花ぞちりける
- Roma-ji
-
Azusayumi haru no yamabe o koekureba
michi mo sariaezu hana zo chirikeru - English Translation
-
With azusa bow,
as I crossed the springtime hills,
along the mountain path,
so thickly fell the blossoms
there was no way to pass them by.
- Meaning
- As I crossed the spring hills, the blossoms had fallen so thickly along the path that there was no way to avoid them.
- Commentary
-
Book II, Spring Poems (Part Two)
Composed upon encountering a large group of women while crossing the mountains of Shiga, and given to them.
Meeting many women on the narrow mountain path, the poet likens them, in their beautiful garments, to blossoms scattering thickly.
Azusa yumi is a pillow word associated with “haru,” playing on both “to stretch” and “spring.”
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
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- Why should I resent the blossoms as they fall? in this fleeting world, shall I myself remain enduring beside them?
- If only my heart, that feels such regret, could become a thread, then each falling blossom I would pierce and hold in place.
- I came to the fields of spring to gather young greens, yet here I am— amid the scattering blossoms, I have lost my way.
- Having found lodging by the springtime hills, as I slept that night, even within my dreams blossoms were falling.