idly passing by
the months and days I do not feel—
yet when I behold
the spring spent gazing at blossoms
how few such seasons there are

Meaning

The months and days that pass idly I scarcely notice, yet when I spend spring gazing at blossoms, I feel how few such seasons there are.

Commentary

Book Seven Felicitations

A poem composed upon seeing a screen painting, prepared for the fiftieth celebration of Prince Sadayasu’s consort, depicting people viewing cherry blossoms as they fall.

At such banquets, it was customary to compose poems based on the scenes painted on folding screens. The poem reflects that while ordinary days pass unnoticed, the springs spent admiring blossoms feel few, perhaps a sentiment born of long life, adding a reflective tone even within a celebratory context.

Author

Fujiwara no Okikaze

Source

Kokin Wakashu

Other

cherry blossoms scatter, whirl, and cloud the way— so that the path by which old age is said to come may lose itself and stray
from Kame-no-o along the rooted mountain rocks falling, the cascade— its white jeweled drops, could they be the count of your thousand years

idly passing by the months and days I do not feel— yet when I behold the spring spent gazing at blossoms how few such seasons there are

idly passing by
the months and days I do not feel—
yet when I behold
the spring spent gazing at blossoms
how few such seasons there are