吹く風と谷の水としなかりせば
み山がくれの花を見ましや
み山がくれの花を見ましや
- Roma-ji
-
Fuku kaze to tani no mizu to shi nakariseba
miyamagakure no hana o mimashi ya - English Translation
-
If there were no wind
to blow, nor valley streams
to carry them,
how could we ever see
the blossoms hidden deep in the hills?
- Meaning
- If there were neither wind to scatter them nor streams in the valley to carry them, how could we ever behold the blossoms hidden deep within the mountains?
- Commentary
-
Book II, Spring Poems (Part Two)
A poem from a poetry contest at the imperial court during the Kanpyō era.
Blossoms blooming deep in the mountains are scattered by the wind and carried by streams down to where people can see them. Without wind and water, their existence would remain unknown. Though the wind that scatters them may seem unwelcome, it is through it that we are able to behold the blossoms.
- Author
- Ki no Tsurayuki
- Source
- Kokin Wakashu
- Other
-
- 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.
- Wisteria blooms, cling to those who merely gaze and then turn away; even if your tender branches should break in the doing.
- At my dwelling, waves of wisteria bloom; people turn back, unable to pass them by, and linger only to gaze.