Hi no hikari yabu shi wakaneba isonokami furinishi sato ni hana mo sakikeri - Kokin Wakashu(English Translation & Meaning)

日の光やぶし分かねば石上
ふりにし里に花も咲きけり

Roma-ji: Hi no hikari yabu shi wakaneba isonokami furinishi sato ni hana mo sakikeri
English Translation: Since the sun's bright rays
make no choice between thickets,
in Isonokami
in the village grown so old
flowers too have come to bloom.
Meaning: Because the sunlight shines on thickets without distinction, even in the old village of Furu in Isonokami, flowers have bloomed.
Commentary: Book Seventeen Miscellaneous Poems I 870

Headnote: "Sent in congratulation when Isonokami no Namimatsu, who had withdrawn to a place called Isonokami without serving at court, was suddenly granted rank"
Isonokami no Namimatsu, living in seclusion at Isonokami without serving at court, was unexpectedly granted the fifth rank, and this poem congratulates him. The emperor's grace is likened to sunlight and the promotion to flowers blooming; even in an old village, flowers have opened.
The author, "Furu no Imamichi," is Furu no Imamichi, a poet of the early Heian period whose life is little known. Isonokami no Namimatsu is likewise obscure.

First line "hi no hikari" is a figure for the emperor's light, bestowing grace without distinction.
Second line "yabu shi wakaneba": shi is emphatic, meaning "since it does not distinguish even thickets," so light reaches those in the shade.
Third line "isonokami" is a pillow word for Furu and also the place where Namimatsu lived in seclusion.
Fourth line "furinishi sato ni" is a pivot word joining "grown old" and the place name Furu: an aged village, the village of Furu.
Fifth line "hana mo sakikeri" likens the promotion to flowers blooming and closes with the exclamatory keri.
Author: Furu no Imamichi
Source: Kokin Wakashu
Prev Poem: Iro nashi to hito ya miruramu mukashi yori fukaki kokoro ni someteshi mono o
Next Poem: Ōhara ya oshio no yama mo kyō koso wa kamiyo no koto mo omoiizurame