Ueshi toki hana machidō ni arishi kiku
utsurou aki ni awamu to ya mishi

English Translation

when first I planted it,
how I longed to see it bloom—
this chrysanthemum; yet
did I ever think I would meet it
in autumn as it fades away?

Meaning

When I planted it, I longed to see the chrysanthemum bloom, yet I never thought I would meet it in autumn as it fades away.

Commentary

Book Five Autumn Poems (Part Two)

Composed for a poetry contest in the imperial palace during the Kanpyō era.

When planting flowers, one eagerly awaits their bloom, yet once they do bloom, they soon fade and fall. The poem expresses both regret at the withering of the chrysanthemum and a lament for the swift passage of time.

The particle “ya” in “ahamu to ya mishi” is rhetorical, implying “did I ever think so?—surely not.”

Author

Oe no Chisato

Source

Kokin Wakashu

Other

in the lofty heights above the clouds where I behold these blooming chrysanthemums— they are mistaken, it would seem, for stars set in the heavens.
still with its dew upon it, I shall pluck and wear the chrysanthemum— so that this autumn, which knows no aging, may endure and last for long unending days.
raised by autumn winds upon the shore of Fukiage, stand these white chrysanthemums— are they flowers, or could they be the waves that gather on the shore?
drenched, I dry my robes on a mountain path, among chrysanthemums— within the space of this dew, when did I pass a thousand years?

Ueshi toki hana machidō ni arishi kiku utsurou aki ni awamu to ya mishi

Ueshi toki hana machidō ni arishi kiku
utsurou aki ni awamu to ya mishi