Narenarete mishi wa nagori no haru zo to mo nado shirakawa no hana no shitakage - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

馴れ馴れて見しは名残の春ぞとも
などしらかはの花の下陰

Roma-ji: Narenarete mishi wa nagori no haru zo to mo nado shirakawa no hana no shitakage
English Translation: Grown so familiar,
how could I not know that spring
I saw was the last?
In Shirakawa, unknowing,
the shade beneath the blossoms.
Meaning: How could I not have known that the spring I watched, so long familiar, would be the last? O shade beneath the blossoms of Shirakawa.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1456

Headnote: "The cherry tree at Saishōji had long served as one of the corner trees for kickball. When I heard that the tree had grown old and been blown down by the wind, I ordered my men to transplant another tree in its place. Going there first to look, I recalled how I had stood beneath it through the springs of so many years, and composed this."
This is the sixth poem of the sequence on the cherry. At the site of the fallen cherry, the poet asks how he could not have known that the spring he watched so familiarly was the last. According to the headnote, the cherry long used as a corner tree for kickball at Saishōji fell in the wind with age; when another tree was transplanted in its place, the poet went to see it and, recalling the many springs he had spent beneath it, composed this poem.
The author, "Fujiwara no Masatsune Ason," was the son of Fujiwara no Yoritsune. A master of kickball regarded as the founder of the Asukai school, he was one of the compilers of the Shin Kokinshū.
Saishōji was one of the six temples with "shō" in their names in the Shirakawa district, built by vow of Emperor Toba. The corner trees for kickball were planted at the four corners of the field, and cherry, willow, maple, and pine were used.

The first line, "narenarete," repeats the same word to stress familiarity over many years. It shows the years the poet stood beneath the cherry at every game of kickball.
In the second line, "mishi wa nagori no," "nagori" means something that proves to be the last. With the past "shi," it looks back on the springs he watched.
The third line, "haru zo to mo," contains the particle "zo" and means "that it was the last spring," continuing into the fourth line.
In the fourth line, "nado shirakawa no," "shira" plays on "shirazu," not knowing, and the place name Shirakawa. The regret of "how could I not have known" is overlaid on the name of the place where the cherry stood.
The last line, "hana no shitakage," ends on a noun. Like "hana no kage" in the preceding poem, it sings of the shade beneath the blossoms, moving from blossoms used to royal progresses to blossoms long familiar as a kickball tree.
Author: Fujiwara no Masatsune
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
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