Uchiwatasu ochikatabito ni koto toedo kotaenu kara ni shiruki hana kana - Shin Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

うち渡す遠方人に言問へど
答へぬからにしるき花かな

Roma-ji: Uchiwatasu ochikatabito ni koto toedo kotaenu kara ni shiruki hana kana
English Translation: To the far-off one
across the way I called out,
but no answer came—
and by that, how clear it is,
this blossom's very name!
Meaning: I called out a question to the person far off across the way, but no answer came—and by that very silence, the flower made its name plain.
Commentary: Book Sixteen Miscellaneous Poems I 1490

Headnote: "When, on my way somewhere around the fifth month, I saw gardenia blossoms blooming very white and asked someone what flower it was, but they would not say."
This is the eighth poem of the sequence on summer. The poet asks someone far away the name of a flower, and the very lack of an answer makes plain what flower it is. According to the headnote, around the fifth month, on her way somewhere, she saw gardenia blooming pure white, asked someone what flower it was, and received no answer.
The author, "Koben," was a lady-in-waiting and poet of the mid-Heian period.
The first and second lines draw on a sedōka in the Kokin Wakashū: "Uchiwatasu / ochikatabito ni / mono mōsu / ware sono soko ni / shiroku sakeru wa / nani no hana zo mo" ("I call to the person far off across the way: that flower blooming white over there—what flower is it?").

The first line, "uchiwatasu," means "looking far across." It uses the first line of the sedōka in the Kokin Wakashū just as it is.
The second line, "ochikatabito ni," refers to a person far away. It takes up the one to whom the source poem put its question about the white flower's name.
The third line, "koto toedo," uses the concessive "do," meaning "though I asked."
In the fourth line, "kotaenu kara ni," "kara ni" means "by that very fact." The wit is that not answering itself shows "no mouth," kuchinashi.
The last line, "shiruki hana kana," exclaims, "a flower plainly known." Overlaying the name of the gardenia with "no mouth," it follows the wordplay on "ayame" in the preceding poem with another play on a flower's name.
Author: Koben
Source: Shin Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Umegae ni oritagaetaru hototogisu koe no ayame mo tare ka waku beki
Next Poem: Samidare no sora dani sumeru tsukikage ni namida no ame wa haruru ma mo nashi