Sakura chiru haru no sue ni wa narinikeri amama mo shiranu nagame seshi ma ni

English Translation

Cherry blossoms fall—
it has come to spring's last days,
and I never knew,
lost in long rains without a break,
lost in my brooding gaze.

Meaning

It has come to the end of spring, when the cherry blossoms fall—while I sat lost in brooding thought, through long rains that knew no break.

Commentary

Book Eight Lament Poems 759

Headnote: "Sent to the Sanjō Minister of the Right on the last day of the third month, after Emperor Daigo had passed away."
This is the first poem of the sequence on partings by death in spring. It says that while the poet was lost in brooding thought through long rains without a break, the season had come to the end of spring, when the cherry blossoms fall. According to the headnote, it was sent to the Sanjō Minister of the Right on the last day of the third month after the death of Emperor Daigo.
The son of Fujiwara no Toshimoto, Middle Captain of the Right Inner Palace Guards, the author rose to Middle Counselor and was called the Tsutsumi Middle Counselor because his mansion stood on the embankment of the Kamo River. He is one of the Thirty-Six Poetic Immortals and the great-grandfather of Murasaki Shikibu. The "Sanjō Minister of the Right" is Fujiwara no Sadakata, the author's cousin.
The scene is the last day of the third month in the spring after Emperor Daigo's death in the ninth month of Enchō 8 (930), set in the capital.
The direct occasion is the sending of this poem to the Sanjō Minister of the Right on the last day of the third month following the emperor's death.

The first line, "sakura chiru," names the season when the cherry blossoms fall. Onto the scene of scattering blossoms is laid the grief of losing the emperor.
In the second line, "haru no sue ni wa," "sue" means the end. The same word as "sue no tsuyu" in the opening poem, 757, is used here for the end of a season.
The third line, "narinikeri," means "it has come to be." "Keri" expresses the realization that something has happened unnoticed, and the poem pauses after the third line.
In the fourth line, "amama mo shiranu," "amama" is a break in the rain. The line means rain falling without any clearing, and it leads into "nagame" in the last line.
In the last line, "nagame seshi ma ni," "nagame" is a pivot word meaning both "long rains" and "gazing absently while lost in thought." The upper and lower verses are inverted, revealing the realization that spring has passed while the poet was sunk in grief. The last line is the same as in Ono no Komachi's poem in the Kokin Wakashū, "hana no iro wa utsurinikeri na itazura ni waga mi yo ni furu nagame seshi ma ni," which likewise joins the end of the blossoms with brooding thought.

Author

Fujiwara no Kanesuke

Source

Shin Kokin Wakashu

Other